In honor of our canine friends, we present the best and worst dogs of Bhutan.
Strays are all over the place in Thimphu, and the girls were told not to pet or play with any animals since there is still quite a high level of rabies. We made the exception for these little puppies we found after visiting the Bhutan Paper Factory (very cool to watch art of making paper from wood chips without machines)
Will has taken care of about 10 patients with dog bites (plus one monkey attack and one bear mauling!) and all received rabies vaccine. There is a huge effort to spay and neuter, vaccinate, and inform the public about the risks of rabies.
So far, the worst dog we have seen was "Patches", the mangey stray who followed us home from a hike and was so persistent that we were sure we would find him waiting for us in front of our apartment the next morning. We laughed while dodging him all through the city, but he calmly followed wherever we went for about 45 min. Despite his disgusting appearance, the girls considered adopting him for his sheer tenacity.
Rabies Fun Fact- did you know you could catch rabies from a horse bite? Well there was recently a case here of a rabid dog who bit a horse who bit a man (who swallowed a fly...)
Hope your World Rabies Day is wonderful and dog-bite free.
That is ONE mange dog! My neighbors keep thinking about getting a dog, but I keep trying to quell their desires. Just seems like too much to take care of right now.
ReplyDeleteSo neat to be able to share your experiences this way. The boys are enjoying school and their new house. yes we moved 5 houses down the street to a brand new 2-story that doesn't flood in the spring and has a 2-car garage. Eric is very excited he doesn't have to start the car outside in -40 temps this winter. We're still trying to get stuff organized the way we want it, but it is livable. We just need to take a page from your book and SIMPLIFY!!!! We have way too much stuff.
Stay safe and thanks for your selflessness in serving others.