It’s actually given both of us a purpose in life that was maybe lacking. We both thoroughly enjoy what we do despite the fact that we do work at it seven days a week. It gives you a feeling of fulfillment to know that you’re making a difference in helping these animals.

Welcome, wonderful viewers, to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Today, we’ll visit Britons Gill and John Dalley, co-founders of the Soi Dog Foundation, a non-profit charitable group that improves the lives of homeless, neglected and abused dogs and cats on the island of Phuket, Thailand.

The word “soi” in Thai means side street or alley. Besides operating a nearly two-hectare facility with a shelter and animal hospital, the Foundation actively works to reduce the birth of kittens and puppies that would end up homeless through its spay and neuter program.

We came out to Thailand to retire, actually. What happened to us in effect was that we were moved by the plight of the street animals that we came across who were in appalling condition. We decided to try and do something and since then have in effect devoted our lives to trying to help these animals. It’s now six and a half years since we first started.

After deciding that we wanted to help the dogs, we looked around to see the best way of doing it. Purely by coincidence, a Dutch lady who had been living in Bangkok for the previous year, she arrived in Phuket at the same time. We joined together and started the Soi Dog Foundation in Phuket back in October of 2003.

The first year was literally Gill, Margo and myself and we would have vets volunteering from overseas come and donate their time and expertise. We would be the nurses, the dog catchers, give the premeds, the post-operative care and literally we would do this in local temples and schools. We would go out, bring the dogs in, sterilize them and the same day they would be back to where they came from; that was the way we did it at the time. We did this for the first 18 months or so operating like this and probably sterilized just over a thousand dogs in the time plus quite a few cats as well.

Phuket, Thailand’s largest island, is approximately the size of Singapore and is home to a large number of dogs.

There’s no accurate figure for the number of dogs that are here. We estimate that there are between 20,000 to 30,000 dogs on the island. It’d be fair to say there are probably around 20,000 stray dogs.

Posted on the Soi Dog Foundation website is the following thoughtful statement: “There is an old saying that saving the life of one animal does not change the world but it does change the world for that animal.” The saying is fitting given what the Foundation does for our animal friends on Phuket.

A lot of the dogs that come to us, they have horrendous injuries, some are just skin disease through malnutrition, stress related and it brings out mange and various other skin conditions. Others come in and they have huge, open wounds where flies have laid their eggs and maggots have hatched and these maggots start eating the dog and it's terrible to see. We get the vast majority of them back to full health again. It's very heartbreaking to see these animals but the pure joy when they've fully recovered is amazing to see. And it never ceases to amaze me that no matter how horrendous the vast majority of these dogs have been treated, how they still love human beings.

On December 26, 2004, the 9.3 magnitude Indian Ocean Earthquake, one of the most powerful quakes ever recorded, occurred near Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia. The gigantic temblor set off the Indian Ocean Tsunami that devastated many nations with coastlines on the Indian Ocean.

The tsunami struck and this brought Phuket and the surrounding areas very much into the focus of world attention. If you say that something good can come out of something so bad, it did have the effect of enabling us to apply for more grants and we were able then to expand the operation considerably. We were able to start employing a full-time vet, employing dog catchers and expand the work that we did.

To actually have a shelter was never the intention, but what happened was after the tsunami there were a lot of dogs abandoned at that time with literally nowhere to go. We ended up with about 100 dogs at our clinic, which was totally unsuitable so we had to look for somewhere else. We ended up, after spending a period at a government dog pound where we invested money, moving to our own premises about 18 months ago.

When we return, we’ll learn about a documentary film featuring the Soi Dog Foundation. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants here on Supreme Master Television. Established in 2003, the non-profit Soi Dog Foundation’s mission is to improve the lives of homeless, abused and neglected dogs and cats on the island of Phuket.

One of my favorite things to do when I go up to the shelter every day, I walk through the runs . There are eight large runs and I go into each one and sit down. I’ve got dogs crawling up my neck, trying to get on top of my head, they're all over me just wanting to be loved and cuddled, and that’s all they want. Yes, they want to be fed, they want to be watered, they want somewhere dry and safe to sleep and love. They don’t ask for a great deal. They're just wonderful.

After spaying, neutering or providing them with medical attention, the Foundation returns the animals to where they were found. However, with those who were mistreated or abused, the Foundation takes a different approach.

And having treated a dog, and restored her to health following such action, you can’t put her back to where she came from. The object obviously is to try and re-home these dogs and we've had some success at that.

In 2009 a documentary about the Foundation entitled “Soi Dogs” premiered at Riverside Studios in London, England and received a standing ovation from viewers. The film then debuted in Melbourne, Australia in January 2010.

The documentary has been made by a UK company called Environmental Films. By chance its managing director, Ella Todd, came over to Phuket actually to see a friend and to have a holiday here. Her friend knew us and was a part-time volunteer for us and asked Ella to consider making maybe a short promotional film, and Ella I said, “Sure, spend maybe half a day doing that.”

When she arrived, I met her at the airport. She came up to the shelter and for the next two and a half weeks she barely left the shelter. She literally was so taken by what we were doing that she filmed over 30 hours of film and spent many weeks hundreds of hours probably editing it and then produced a full length documentary, entirely at their expense. The object of the film is to raise awareness. Hopefully, people find it an inspirational film. It is being distributed amongst film festivals now and to TV companies, and we are very hopeful that it will spread the message.

Let’s hear from some of the guests who attended the film’s Melbourne premiere.

We’ve got a mother and daughter here. So tell us why you’ve come to “Soi Dogs” tonight?

We love dogs and my daughter just told me to come. She wanted to see what this was all about and we both love dogs. We have a lot of dogs at home too and I am from Thailand and I am very interested to know what it’s all about.

So what are you going to get out of today, do you think?

Well, my sister and I have always wanted to help rescue the dogs in Thailand. And I think it would be good to see that people are finally starting to become aware and it will be very inspiring and uplifting.

Would you like to introduce yourself?

Yes, I am Ward Young. from the Coalition for the Protection of Race Horses. This is a fantastic event put on by the Soi Dogs Foundation and I think it’s definitely something everybody should support.

What does the future hold for the Soi Dog Foundation?

We’re looking now to expand to other areas of Thailand and we’ve got people coming over on board who are far more skilled than Gill and I in things like the Internet and social networking, which I know nothing about at my age I’m afraid, to help us achieve this.

It’s imperative to get into these other areas because people like ourselves have helped in Phuket, other people are helping in other tourist areas like Samui, there’s a group in Bangkok and there’s a group in Ching Mai. Our objective is, obviously we’ll need a huge upsurge in the size of the Soi Dog Foundation and the way we move forward. And we hope this film will help us with that in giving far more awareness to people about what is happening here.

Following the screening of “Soi Dogs” in Melbourne, Mr. Dalley sent a kind letter of appreciation to Supreme Master Television for helping to spread the word about the plight of our homeless dog and cat friends in Thailand by covering the event.

We sincerely thank the Dalleys for taking time to speak with us about the Soi Dog Foundation and its benevolent work. May the Foundation soon reach its goal of touching the lives of vulnerable canines and felines all across Thailand.

For more details on the Soi Dog Foundation, please visit The film “Soi Dogs” is available on DVD at the same website

Peaceful viewers, thank you for joining us today on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Up next is Enlightening Entertainment after Noteworthy News. May we all do our best to help the gentle animals of our world.

Did you know genetically modified foods can adversely affect our well-being?

The fact that genes transfer to our gut bacteria gets worse when you think of what can transfer. The corn and cotton that are genetically engineered, there’s varieties that produce their own pesticide, so if the gene that produces the pesticide transfers, it might turn our intestinal bacteria into living pesticide factories.

For advice in making wise dietary choices, please watch part one of “Jeffrey Smith and the Damaging Effects of Genetically Modified Foods” Monday, May 17 on Healthy Living.