The King of Thailand has adopted 13 recently rescued Great Danes and is covering the costs of their medical care after a viral Facebook post caught his attention.
The abandoned dogs were rescued in late August from a home in the Lat Lum Kaeo district of Pathum Thani Province by volunteers from the animal rights organization Watchdog Thailand. The organization received information of neglect and squalid living conditions from a relative of the dogs’ guardian, who felt compelled to make contact after a mother and her two puppies tragically died.
A caretaker who was at the house when authorities arrived explained that the woman who bred the dogs for sale abandoned them due to financial issues. Put simply, she had trouble selling the dogs, ran out of money, and left them at the home, locked in cages and without food.
Rescuers took the five males and eight females to Pathum Thani’s livestock office.
While it’s unknown how long the dogs went without eating, they appear skeletal in photos posted on Facebook by Watchdog Thailand.
After seeing the photos, King Rama X announced plans to adopt all 13 dogs. Shortly thereafter, animal husbandry officers from the Bureau of the Royal Household, along with the department’s director-general, Somchuan Rattanamangkhalanon, picked the dogs up from the livestock office.
They’re currently being cared for at Kasetsart University’s animal hospital, where they face several more weeks of recovery. Overall, the dogs’ health has improved since their rescue. Due to physical weakness caused by prolonged malnutrition, however, three of the dogs still require special care, according to Somchuan.
After the dogs recover, they’ll be relocated to the Bureau of the Royal Household’s dog daycare center.
An investigation is ongoing and the breeder will likely face animal cruelty charges, according to Sorawit Thanito, director-general of Thailand’s Department of Livestock Development (DLD).
In light of these recent events, the DLD urges residents of Thailand to be vigilant about animal cruelty and to report it through the department’s DLD 4.0 smartphone application.
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Thank you sir for your kindness and your humanity! You are truly a king among men! God bless you and your family always
Wow! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH KING OF THAILAND for rescuing these starving, just for breeders Great Danes. WE HUMANS made these dogs–ALL of them–now WE HUMANS need to TAKE CARE of ALL of them. If you cannot afford your “pet”-although these Great Danes obviously weren’t pets–then PLEASE, PLEASE give them to someone who CAN take care of them.
Huge shout out to the King!!! YOU are awesome!!
ANOTHER COVER UP. RELEASE THE PREDATORS NAME.
Thank you, King Maha Vajiralongkorn!
THANK YOU FOR SAVING THESE DOGS! PLEASE STOP THIS WOMAN AND OTHERS FROM DOING THIS, AGAIN!!
This will probably not be family friendly. What kind of person starves animals . They need to put in jail and fined a big fine. They must never own another animal. Watch out for your kids and spouse they can also Abuse humans
This will probably not be family friendly. What kind of person starves animals . They need to put in jail and fined a big fine. They must never own another animal. Watch out for your kids and spouse they can also Abuse humans
KING OF THAILAND i DO HOPE YOU WILL TAKE CARE OF THESE BEAUTIES! I do hope to see an update with them looking healthy again. Thank you for your big heart.
Kudos to the King of Thailand for adopting these poor dogs. But lets NOT forget all the thousands of other dogs (and cats) that are also horrifically abused, tortured, tormented and then brutally killed for the dog/cat meat trade, day after day, week after week. Surely these innocent animals deserve recognition as well. Perhaps its finally time to make the heinous dog/cat meat trade ILLEGAL and do your utmost to enforce this law and punish those that totally ignore it and carry on with this horrendous atrocity.
We are very grateful to His Majesty The King Rama X for his compassion and saving these wonderful dogs.
They are now in good hands, I would say the best.
Our gratitude with all our respect to His Majesty The King. May The King be Blessed.
Long live His Majesty The King.
That’s great. Can he now do something about the atrocious treatment of elephants, tigers and other animals in his country?
You make a very salient point. I hope the the dogs fully recover and that this is not just a publicity stunt to make up for Thailand’s multiple animal abuse sins.
Tiere wurden uns von Gott anvertraut und nicht ausgeliefert! Bitte lasst sie in Frieden und Würde leben. Hunde sind des Menschen Treue Begleiter und sollten aus Dank dementsprechend gut behandelt werden.
Thank you, King Rama X! Long may you reign!
This truly is grandtastick News!
It’s about time that those who are in power do something about animal abuse, good for California the rest of the states should follow suit.
Thank you to the King of Thailand for adopting those dogs!!
Thank you to the King of Thailand for caring enough to adopt those Great Danes!!! I appreciate all people who care about animals!
Good for him but the King of Thailand needs to punish people who deal in the meat trade. What those animals go through before they are slaughtered is horrific.
thanks to people who save animals
Whilst this is a good thing what about all the DOG MEAT FACTORIES too?!
Dusturbing picture how emancipated the are!!
Please look after them and save the rest!! Chargevthe breeder!!! Set new laws and spay and neuter.
To the King of Thailand – PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE give these poor dogs all a chance at a new life away from these horrible conditions that they have been exposed too. The abuse and cruelty is overwhelming and I sincerely hope that now they will have a chance because prior to you getting involved they had nothing but cruel deaths to look forward too. Thank You for saving all 13 of them.
Oh my — how could one let this go on for so long — what fears are stopping people from doing the right thing — hour by hour, day by day — the lingering discomfort, suffering — THANK GOD someone spoke (sadly, only AFTER deaths of 2 dogs) — THANK YOU to the King of Thailand — a very rational, compassionate, moral DECISION to take care of these sweet Dogs // You know, because you are such a GREAT leader and King, you could rally the all of Thailand to set up NO-KILL facilities for all stray Animals, where they can be properly taken care of and adopted out into loving homes — PLEASE — we can DO THIS.
I’m glad to hear the dogs survived such dreadful and prolonged abuse. Thanks to all involved in their rescue and care, and also to the King of Thailand for stepping in to offer them an excellent home for the rest of their lives.
So glad they have been rescued!
Very commendable but no doubt there are many more suffering. He needs to address the whole issued of animal welfare in Thailand. and ensure that those guilty of such animal cruelty are severely punished.
Glad to hear it. Hope the dealer was severely punished.
King Rama X, thank you for being a humane human being.
Good start for the King if Thailand in animal kindness action. Now he needs to ban the cruelty dog meat trade and cruel treatment of large breed animals in his country. The Thai royalty is extremely wealthy.
wow those dogs are so thin
unbelievable
That is very good of the King. Now he should do something to stop his people from eating dogs and cats.
What a wonderful man and an example to others!
What horrendous pictures, the poor, poor helpless dogs, it breaks my heart. But I sincerely hope that King Rama X carries out his promise and rehomes these gorgeous dogs and that he really is their happy ending.
Let’s hope that this compassionate King Rama X actually Does Adopt these poor emaciated dogs!!
The title gives to believe that these animals have already been adopted when actually He “plans” to do so!
However these poor dogs have been rescued This is a good start! Hope that they are given some well earned food!!
Thank you for caring! It just crushes my heart to see animals suffer unnecessarily like this. I hope they prosecute the breeder, sub-human at best.