Thais Set Up Blood Bank for Dogs
Posted on: Tuesday, 4 March 2003, 06:00 CST
Thais Set Up Blood Bank for Dogs
source: Associated Press Strange News
A Thai animal protection group campaigning to help the hundreds of thousands of stray dogs roaming the streets of Bangkok said Tuesday it had set up a blood bank for needy canines.
Chai-anan Hongthongkham, director of the Animal Lovers Group, said he was inspired to establish the bank after a local veterinary hospital called him asking for blood for a transfusion to save an ailing dog hit by a car.
Since then, he has regularly brought 12 of his dogs, including a towering Saint Bernard, to donate blood at private and state-run animal hospitals.
"The blood is needed for storage at the bank to save the lives of dogs in case of emergency," Chai-anan said.
The group plans a blood drive on March 9 at a Buddhist temple. It is storing the blood in refrigerators to supply two private animal hospitals when needed.
"We hope that hundreds of dogs and their owners will turn up to donate their blood for our project," Chai-anan said.
He said that unlike humans, dogs have a common blood type, making all dogs potential "universal donors."
The amounts of blood drawn will range from 0.6 pints to 2.1 pints, depending on the size of the dog. Larger breeds such as Golden Retrievers, Rottweilers and Labradors will be encouraged to donate as they can offer more than smaller dogs.
On Sunday, the group hopes to fill 600 of the 0.6-pint packets used to store the blood.
The group is also urging the public to adopt some of the 300,000 stray dogs that live on the streets of the Thai capital, and help them escape a sterilization campaign.
Last year, city authorities launched a plan to sterilize more than 100,000 strays to keep down numbers and to vaccinate them against rabies within two years. Previously, strays caught without identifying collars were killed.
In 2001, some 37 people died in Thailand from rabies contracted from stray dogs. Bangkok was the worst affected area, with eight deaths.
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