May 3rd is the day, Bangkok airport will be a buzz with dog's heading to their new homes, K9aid has 6 dogs departing for UK via Amsterdam.

Yoji

Buddy

Euri

Our 6 "The Flying K9's" are Yoji, Buddy, Euri, Mama-Ginger, Snow White & Cleo, all bound for the UK on KLM with flight volunteers Cindy & Derek. First stop is Amsterdam where we will all be picked up by Bob & Diana who will be driving us to the UK via Belgium, France & the channel tunnel. We should arrive at their house in the early hours of Monday morning.

The dogs new familys will arrive to pick them during the day except for Yoji who will have a day in London before his mum comes to get him on Tuesday.

Yoji an injured Bankok street dog is taking his new wheelchair, so we hope he can greet his new mum in style, Buddy also from the streets of Bangkok has been waiting a long time for his trip to new mum Sally. Euri, Mama-Ginger & Snow White were all rescued from the Dog Meat Trade & ended up in a government shelter with hundreds of other dogs, they were the lucky ones. Cleo is street dog from Phuket who was rescued & cared for by Doggy Heaven.

Mama-Ginger

Snow White

Cleo

We are travelling with the dogs as we head to the "Band Aid Benefit Concert" in Glastonbury on 16th May. Then a chance to visit some of the dogs we have adopted to the UK over the last few years. The trip then takes us on to Romania to visit the shelters & dogs you support. We also need to see the situation with street dogs in Romania first hand, this part of the trip will be distressing but it has to be done so we know the full horror of the government shelters there.

Next is Greece to vist 2 more shelters, one near Athens then on to the FOS shelter on the island of Syros before making our way to Turkey to visit Turunc cat shelter.

We will be posting picture to Facebook & Instagram along the way to keep you updated on how it is going.

Dogs kept in cramped cages and slaughtered for meals:
The horrors of Vietnam's meat trade. (Daily Mirror)

The lust for dog meat grows as the Vietnamese become increasingly better off.

The country has been transformed from one on the brink of starvation 30 years ago, to a place on the up and up by rapid economic changes.

People now have more money to spend on food, going out and partying and dog meat fits perfectly into that culture.

Any celebration and especially the end of the lunar month calls for a trip to the many dog meat only restaurants there. But do these people know where the meat they feast on comes from?

“We don’t know but we don’t care” one group of young teenage diners told me. “We only care about how it tastes and we love it” he said as his pals nod in agreement.

But in Vietnam, dog theft is not a crime, all you get charged with, if at all, for stealing dogs is a fine of up to $100 (about one night’s work for thieves).

WARNING - This article & the video shown is very real but distressing...

During the cold Russian winters, the street dogs started to move underground, first exploring the tunnels leading to the metro stations, and then, once they had mastered the escalators, moving into metro stations located relatively close to the city’s surface.

Finally, strays made their way to the deepest stations, in the heart of the city.

In the unregulated aftermath of the Soviet Union, strays learned to descend to the stations’ using the escalators and, like true urbanites, now regularly navigate Moscow by metro, sparing their paws as they roam the megalopolis to forage for meals, meet new people, check out unfamiliar neighborhoods, or, on occasion, just for kicks.

“There are three models of metro dogs,” dogs who live in the subway but do not travel, dogs who use the subway to travel short distances instead of walking, and entrepreneurial dogs who spend the day riding back and forth, busking. This last type of dog takes long trips, working the crowd for treats and emotional contact. (On trains, dogs “seeking tenderness” are particularly inclined to approach women over forty who are carrying large shopping bags.)

Check out this short video

Lena, a very pretty call-center employee in a form-fitting plush tracksuit, was just heading home but stopped when she saw the dog. She bent down to his level, and offered part of her dinner to him.

He turned away his muzzle. “It’s the first time I try with a Chicken McNugget, but he doesn’t eat it,” said Lena, who usually buys sausages when she sees a stray.

"Alf" was rescued from the Phuket stray dog pound, he was in very bad shape when found in April. he was riddled with major issues to his old age heart, lungs & kidney.

After 2 months of anti-biotics to clear up infections he was feeling a lot better. Alf lived out the last few months of his life being cared for & well fed, something that would never have been possible without the support he recieved from the "Old Dog Rock Club".

There are many Old Dogs like Alf who find it hard to survive on the street. The “Old Dogs Rock Club” raises funds to help these Oldies have a better life & some comfort in their old age. Sign up TODAY & be there to look after them when they can no longer look after themsevles...

Everyone at K9Aid would like to thank you all for your wonderful help & support. Your donations have rescued & re-homed so many dogs that without you would have no future. There are so many more that need saving that it is easy to feel overwhelmed but don't lose sight of what has been acheived.

Dogs recued from the streets, wounds & illness treated, dogs vacinated, hungry mouths fed, shelter conditions improved & best of all happy faces in their new homes. There is still lots to do to bring hope to many more of "Mans Best Friend". Thank You for helping make the world a better place....