Dogs and cats are supposed to be mortal enemies right? Well not all the time. I don't know if it is the peace and quiet of the temple area or the fact that generally speaking these religious areas tend to be filled with a aura of kindness, but the animals here just seem to get along.
I know that my own dogs will chase any cat that they see just instinctually even though I don't know what they would do if they were ever to catch one. I suspect they would get hurt pretty badly by the cat because my dogs are definitely not fighting dogs.
When we come to the temples to feed the animals, they will all come out together, dogs and cats. On this particular occasion the cats and dogs were extremely well-behaved and it was nice to see.
hey! Share with me!
We even brought some food for the monkeys, which in some people's minds is a bad idea because monkey populations just like any animal population, grows beyond the area's capability to sustain them pretty rapidly if they have an abundance of food. We are kind of evaluating whether or not we should continue to do this but since we are an animal welfare organization, the idea of starving them off to control the population kind of goes against everything we stand for.
I want to take a moment to educate people on the ways of monkeys and how if you do see them in the wild it is best to just leave them alone. I have a great deal of experience with this particular type of monkey and the ones at the temple are dramatically more docile than ones in an uncontrolled environment would be. It is best to never approach monkeys and attempting to feed them can end very badly for you. Monkeys are not known for their patience and if you try to be "friends" with them by offering them one piece at a time they will become frustrated with your rapidly and will even attack you to take all the food you are holding. Also, even once you are out of food they may think you have more and they will jump on you to get more food that you don't even have. So if you are ever in a position to feed a monkey, just know that there are a lot of ways that it can go wrong. I took this picture just for dramatic effect but this is actually how we feed the monkeys when we do so.
You put the food out in the open and walk away. This way they do not associate you with the food and will take it, normally quite calmly, because even if you think you are a wonderful person, monkeys will always see you as a threat and they don't contain their spastic rage very well.
You can see that this guy has more than enough food but monkeys, even well-fed monkeys will take all that they can and are not very well-known for being animals that share.
Cats and dogs on the other hand, do a much better job of it.
On this day we came with some small fish for the cats and of course they really enjoy this. We don't always have fish on hand but a local who is aware of our charity donated a bunch of small fish that he was unable to sell at the market. We are always very gracious when people do things like this for us.
This was a great day where everyone ate their fill and it took place at our primary focus point, the Tiger Cave Temple in Krabi, Thailand. The best thing for me was that everyone got along and it ended up with me getting one of my favorite pictures that I have ever taken while doing this work.
These 3 are not fighting with one another, the cat is simply encouraging the dog to let him have his turn at the bowl even though the cat wasn't really all that interested in the dog food that was contained inside. Because I so rarely see cats and dogs hang out in such close proximity unless they were raised in the same house, this is a unique scene indeed.
If you are in a position to feed a stray dog or cat wherever you live in the world, I strongly encourage you to do so. Most strays do not deserve the harsh life they have been dealt and with a little bit of compassion and perhaps even food that you are going to throw out anyway, we can make their lives a lot better.
if you would like to see how you can help out or simply spread the word, please visit our website at
http://krabianimalwelfare.org
Krabi Animal Welfare is a charity run entirely by volunteers and are a registered non-profit organization in Thailand and the U.K.. We aim to relieve the pain and suffering of dogs and cats within Krabi Province.
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