1 Million

In 2023, Soi Dog became the first organisation in history to surpass one million stray animals neutered and vaccinated. The milestone animal was named 'Million', and signifies the progress made by the programme since the establishment of Soi Dog Foundation in 2003.

Spay and Neuter

Thailand is home to millions of stray dogs and cats.

Soi Dog Foundation was set up to help improve the welfare of stray animals in Thailand by addressing the main source of the problem – overpopulation. It is widely agreed that the only ethical and most effective way of managing a stray dog population is through a programme of mass spay and neuter, or CNVR (Catch, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return).

In 2023, the milestone of a million animals neutered was reached, and Soi Dog is now neutering and vaccinating more than 20,000 new animals every month.

Procedures are carried out at spay/neuter facilities in Soi Dog's Phuket and Bangkok locations, and at any one of 14 mobile clinics - nine of which operate in and around Greater Bangkok, with five more located in Southern Thailand. Dogs and cats are brought in to the mobile facilities by Soi Dog's teams of animal rescue officers and by members the public. The CNVR programme began in Phuket and was expanded in 2015, most notably to Bangkok, which is home to hundreds of thousands of stray dogs. The programme in Bangkok is 50% funded by Dogs Trust Worldwide and over half-a-million animals have been spayed/neutered and vaccinated in Thailand's capital city to date. The Bangkok CNVR programme will eventually comprise of ten mobile clinics across the city's metropolitan area.

Soi Dog carries out regular surveys of the stray dog population in Greater Bangkok, and the results of these surveys show not only a marked reduction in population in the areas that the CNVR programme has reached - an average dog population decline of 20% - but also a dramatic improvement in the welfare state of those who remain, with far fewer skinny or emaciated dogs. 

Soi Dog's CNVR programme reaches various other areas of Thailand too. It is currently active in Chiang Mai, Chonburi, Phang Nga, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani, Kanchanaburi, Songkhla, Phatthalung, Phetchaburi and Phrachuap Khiri Khan, and has visited islands such as Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Kood and Koh Chang since 2015. In late 2021, Soi Dog's first international CNVR effort began in neighbouring Cambodia, in the country's capital, Phnom Penh.  

Vaccination

As important as neutering is to population control, so vaccination is to minimising the spread of potentially life-threatening diseases such as rabies. The ultimate goal of vaccination is to eliminate rabies in Thailand. 

By vaccinating a minimum of 70% of strays in an area you achieve what's known as herd immunity, a form of indirect protection from infectious disease that occurs when a large percentage of a population has become immune to an infection, thereby providing a measure of protection for individuals who are not immune. Soi Dog's CNVR work in Bangkok has contributed to a marked reduction in reported rabies cases in the city since 2015.