Speaking For Dogs: The Role of Dog Biographies in Improving Canine Welfare in Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

The streets of Bangkok are home to some three hundred thousand stray dogs, a mix of wiry, semi-feral mutts and pedigree animals that were once owned but have since been abandoned. They live amongst the piles of rubbish that line the city’s streets. They sleep in back alleyways under the cover of rusting car bodies and overfl owing bins. They breed and fi ght in the open, dodging speeding tuk-tuks and taxis, and they bark and howl long through the night. Commonly known as “soi dogs,” these animals own the streets, or sois, and are members of Bangkok’s large non-human society. They are shunned by some Bangkokians, but protected by many others. This chapter analyses the soi dog as a product of socio-cultural factors including religion, class, and wealth, all of which have an impact on canine welfare. It focuses on the way in which one animal rescue organization utilizes dog biographies to “speak” for these animals, allowing for issues of canine welfare to become visible. These biographies play an important role in canine welfare because they help humans to identify with and feel empathy for soi dogs.

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