February in Thailand is the start of the hot season, with temperatures in the mid 30′s in the shade it is sometimes a little debilitating.

But not so it seems for dogs escaping eager blow darting dog catchers and thankfully, the heat didn’t stop to the lads from making this another blow darting success.

Doi Kam is a small mountain that sits in the foot hills below the massive Doi Suthep & Doi Pui mountains, the land mark that dominates the back drop of Chiang Mai.

On the top of Doi Kam is a temple and after the 2006 – 2007 Royal Flora event, that brought millions of tourists to Chiang Mai & the world of gardens at the foot of Doi Kam, Ratchaphruek, the temple has become more widely known.

Today a planned capture of some of the previously elusive and some of the newly grown and newly dumped dogs was carried out by a group of volunteers, aided by a couple of the guys from the shelter, so that tomorrow they could be sterilised and then returned here post their week of stay at the Care for Dogs shelter in Hang Dong.

We were reacting to a call from the resident Abbot at the temple and he was keen to also have the 2 cats he knew of at the temple sterilised too.

We had come prepared with some smelly & yummy looking food to grab & maintain the attention of the dogs. All the commotion this causes, with tourists & well wishers visiting the temple, is always a problem but thankfully Karin was able to pacify concerns of people wondering why dogs were being darted, chased & then appearing to be dead, sparko & out for the count!

After a couple of hours of dart – chase – lose – wait – hear – find we managed to get dart 3 but lost 1, who would enjoy a relaxing 5 hour nap in the undergrowth of this thick forest. The Abbot kindly arranged for one of the cats to be caught & put into a cage we had with us & another dog who was quite approachable was also added to the list for tomorrows Sterilisation Run.

But the prize of the day was the black & white (yes white, it’s a bit dirty up here !) female who has previously escape capture on many occasions and has mothered far too many puppies of which many have died due to her and their ill health anyway.

Sterilisation is a simple and effective process to reduce over population.

It costs money but with systematic sterilisation of as many dogs as possible within our budget from donated funds, we try to curb the population explosion that is otherwise not being addressed by society.

If you would like to make a donation towards even one sterilisation surgery, your donation will be gratefully received and sincerely utilised.