The isle of dogs

The argument over what to do with Koh Samui’s populous and polluting stray dogs epidemic is firing up with equally rabid responses from all sides. The local newspaper reported this month that a number of the island’s stray and decrepit canine’s have been found poisoned, and even hanged, along the most popular tourist beaches, Chaweng and Lamai: Not the most pleasant image with which to start your holiday morning. The blame has been placed on local hotel owners, who are tired of the animals roaming around their premises and beaches at all hours of the day and night.

The article was full of heart-felt testimonies from tourists who had come to Samui on holiday, and befriended a stray dog during their stay, providing a name, food and no doubt a whole personality for the poor pub, only to find the creature one morning swaying from a palm tree. These outrageous accounts naturally incite the question of what the hell people are thinking, flying around the world to a tropical and sociable holiday island, only to make friends with dogs. Surely there are better things to do while on a Koh Samui holiday than hanging out with stray dogs?

The human relations which many people invest in their animals is always a little strange, but in the context of what could be a fleeting and fun friendly holiday, they appear to be even more misplaced. Picture the scene: Chaweng Beach, frequently touted as one of the finest in the world, infested with filthy and aggressive dogs of all sizes, roaming the sands for food, barking, shitting and fighting, while the equally bothersome local sales people scream over the din to try to flaunt their worthless trinkets to tourists, the roar of the jet-skis in the background a comparatively normal and unobtrusive racket…

George Orwell once observed that the concept of civilization was incompatible with the ownership of dogs: that the necessity to dart around dollops of turd when walking the streets was degrading to man-kind. Dogs have been effectively banned from public areas in many parts of the world. Koh Samui is still struggling with the concept of “public areas”.

The whole thing reminds me of the Canadian anthropology professor who experimented with raising a baby chimpanzee alongside his newborn son. The idea was that the chimp would be speaking by the age of two, walking off to school when he was four and so on. Soon enough, staff from the University had to break down he professor’s front door. The found the old man stuffed to the face with bananas and his son swinging from the lamp shade.
 
PS: The newspaper article said that hanging dogs is not the most effective way to solve the stray problem. However, a follow up article said that the strays have been strangely absent this week. The people at the charitable Samui Dog Rescue Centre offer their suggestions on how to deal with problem. Visit their web-site to make a donation: www.samuidog.org