In May 2016, a few months after quitting my job, I decided to volunteer at Baan Unrak Animal Sanctuary in Sangkhlaburi, Thailand. The small village is located in a province called Kanchanaburi, which is approximately 7 hours drive from Bangkok. I took a minibus from Bangkok to Sangkhlaburi, and a motorbike taxi to get to the shelter. Due to language barrier, there was some miscommunication with the driver. He took me to an orphanage, thinking I wanted to volunteer there. Luckily, one of the teachers knew the shelter I was looking for, and translated it to the driver. It was late at night when I arrived. There were no streetlamps.
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| The peaceful village of Sangkhlaburi |
I spent my first night at the volunteers dormitory, provided by the shelter. But the place was rather cramped and dirty, with several cats and dogs and a rabbit roaming freely inside, so I was more than glad when the next day, they offered another option, which was a guesthouse down the street. I got my own private room for just about 130B per night.
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| One of the rescues, a baby squirrel that fell off a tree and lost his mother. |
What I liked most about the shelter was that it practiced a no-kill policy. At the time of my visit, they had close to 50 dogs, 10 cats and a goat. Sangkhlaburi had so many strays and the locals weren't being too kind to them. Some cases were so horrific that you couldn't imagine anyone--much less the friendly, soft-spoken Thai people--could do such a thing to an animal. Unfortunately, because I looked like a local, some of the dogs were a little wary of me. I was the only Asian volunteer.
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| With some of the other volunteers |
A typical day would begin with walking the dogs at 8 a.m. Some of the dogs would go on leashes, some needed harnesses, while some could go without. It all depended on their levels of obedience. Several volunteers would stay behind to clean the cages, replace bedding and prepare food for the dogs, so that they would come home to clean beds and a food bowl ready in their cages. Talk about 5-star treatment.
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| How my shirt looked like, after a long day at work |
Then we would continue cleaning the kennels, raking dead leaves, refilling water bowls and doing the laundry. Every day, with that many dogs in one place, there would be at least one or two with some kind of health problems. Sometimes, the locals would send their pets and even farm animals to the shelter for treatment, because the nearest veterinary clinic was an hour away. Sometimes, there would also be new rescues coming in, mostly with injuries. Sometimes, the volunteers would go around town to catch stray dogs to be spayed or neutered. So, the vets were usually busy at work almost all day long.
At 12 p.m., we would stop for lunch, which was a vegan meal prepared by the school right next to the shelter. Our lunch break was two hours long. At 2 p.m., we would get back to the shelter. Food would be prepared for the second round of feeding. The bigger and more active dogs would need to be walked for the second time, while the smaller dogs would be released from their cages for some playtime. One of the dogs was in a wheelchair because his rear legs were paralyzed, so we had to keep a close eye on him, to make sure that the other dogs don't play too rough with him. Our shift would end at approximately 5 p.m.
Volunteers are always encouraged to play and engage with the animals at the shelter whenever possible. This may seem trivial, but is actually an important task for the volunteers. Socializing the dogs will help them become more comfortable around people, thereby increasing their chances of getting adopted. Some of the luckier dogs would even have to travel hundreds of miles on airplanes to get to their forever homes abroad.
I was there for a week. On my last day, as was the tradition, they took a picture of me and another volunteer who was also leaving on that same day. It was truly an amazing experience, especially because I didn't have much opportunity to play with dogs in my own country. I would highly recommend this sanctuary to anyone who wants to make their stay in Thailand more meaningful. Do visit their website if you wish to volunteer, donate, adopt or sponsor an animal.
