This blog entry is a story about a very special dog, rescued by Care for Dogs 11 February 2007.

In early 2007, an American tourist had visited the “Elephant Conservation Center” in Lampang, where they put on shows of elephants doing tricks and attract many tourists to look at the performing pachyderms when she happened upon a shy dog she quickly named Bill.

After seeing the dog with it’s tongue hanging out and looking rather strange in it’s face, the tourist spoke with staff at the centre about the dog. They revealed that Bill had apparently been kicked by an elephant some time during the year before (2006).

On returning to the USA, the tourist contacted Care for Dogs and alerted us to this dogs plight.

Karin, Teresa & I traveled the 65 kilometers to Lampang to search for Bill. However, after a rather lengthy walk & chase around the sprawling park area, Bill was not giving up the chase lightly and just kept moving to stop the sedative taking effect that we had tricked hidden in a tasty sandwich.

Finally caged, with the assistance of the on site veterinary team, we asked what they knew of Bill’s condition. Sadly they said they had no resources (or inclination) to deal with other animals, as they were on site to look after the elephants.

We drove Bill back to Chiang Mai and visited Ban Maa Kap Maew Animal Hospital, where Dr Arunrat was able to do a thorough examination.

It appeared that Bill was physically fit and it was also good to see she had a sterlisation scar (yes Bill turned out to be female). However, her jaw was locked into a closed position and her tongue protruded through a gap in her teeth which were largely decayed or non existent. We had noticed a terrible smell coming from Bill when we found her & our clothes & car stunk of her. Under sedation, Dr Arunrat was able to left Bill’s lips and expose rotting elephant dung wedged in her jaw for goodness knows how long and aiding to the rotting of her teeth.

After an extremely difficult clean of the mouth with tweezers and flushing of water, she was given antibiotics to treat the mouth infection. She was also X-rayed to check the extent of the damage she had suffered. Amazingly, the entire skull & jaw on the left side showed signs of break and fracture but calcification and healing to an advanced state, thus causing for Bill’s mouth to be closed / joined / boded shut and unable to open.

Back at the shelter, we were rather concerned about how to cater for Bill’s condition. It was clear she was mobile, extremely lovable, friendly & communicative but how to feed her.

It was soon very clear that Bill was a survivor. She has licked up the elephant poo for long enough, as it would seem that was palatable enough and had possibly helped her survive, so it was no surprise to see her lick up any food that any dog left in their bowl at feeding time. We gave her a mushy porridge type mix but that just made her nose messy! No, she was happy to eat what everyone else ate. The only special requirement was, that she always have water to lick up too, to lubricate the limited mastication her tongue and throat could do on the food.

She suffered a few more tooth infections whilst at the shelter and received antibiotics but vets said that if we extracted her teeth, there would be a further & greater threat to her health from open wound infections.

Going on in the back ground throughout this time, was a conversation with the tourist who had alerted Care for Dogs to Bill in the first place. Initially she had wanted to pay for all Bill’s treatment and then the shipping of her to the USA but sadly after a long time, considering the implications, she decided against adopting Bill.

Well, after a year at the shelter, Bill finally found a home. She left the shelter for a loving & caring home in Chiang Mai with some very special & it must be said, lucky people.