The dog meat trade in Cambodia is a widespread reality. Dogs are kept on farms where dog butchers kill them before the meat is sold to restaurants to be served as a “delicacy” to tourists.
Michael Chour, from France, is a medical doctor and has done brilliant work to help stop the practice by closing down many slaughterhouses through negotiation.
He has lived in Thailand for over 13 years.
Chour is the founder of The Sound of Animals, an organization dedicated to saving dogs from the meat trade in Southeast Asia. He shared a story about one dog, which totally stole his heart in a way he will never forget.
After negotiating an agreement with the owner of a meat farm in Chomkachek, he managed to save 17 dogs.
Amongst the dogs, one pooch caught his attention. He affectionately called the tan-and-white dog, which has such expressive eyes, Sweety (Ma Cherie).
When Chour first found Sweety, she was cowering at the back of her cage terrified. Perhaps she had seen how the other dogs were dragged by the scruff of their necks after being hit with a single blow to the head before having their throats slit.
Although Cambodia does not have the reputation of torturing dogs like China, Korea, and Vietnam, it’s still extremely distressing to the dogs to witness one another’s death.
After being transported to a temporary shelter in O Smach, Cambodia, the dogs are medically checked. They are then moved to the dog shelter run by Chour’s rescue organization in the Ban Kruat district of Thailand.
After winning Sweety’s trust, Chour lifted her out of the cage. The traumatized pooch immediately snuggled up to him, laying her head on his chest and curling up in his arms.
In a profoundly heartwarming scene, which lasted an hour and a half, man and dog were in a comforting embrace.
“You’re alright. Nobody will kill you, my girl,” Chour tells Sweety.
Chour ran his hands through her fur and over her ears, squeezing her gently as she buried her head under Chour’s chin.
“She cuddled tenderly,” he told The Dodo. “My heart melted, and I could not restrain my tears.”
“I see too many horrible things in all these slaughterhouses I visit. I love to see them understand that they will live and receive love.”
“All dogs have the right to a life of happiness, but some of them touch my heart more than others,” Chour said. “She is one of them.”
When Michael Chour first arrived in Buriram, Thailand, he was alarmed with the issues of the dog meat trade, which was legal and still in existence at that time. Over the last few years, he has worked hard to fight against this infamous practice.
According to The Sound Of Animals website, when the dog meat trade was outlawed in Thailand, the dogs of the slaughterhouses in the area were released.
The year 2017 was quite a turning point for the organization as they set up the “Blue Dream shelter” in order to love and care for many ex-slaughterhouse survivors and their descendants.Usually, The Sound of Animals finds foster homes for the rescued dogs, but this poochie stole Chour’s heart good and true, and he decided to keep her.
On Aug. 10, 2018, however, Chour posted a sad update:
Sweety was found dead, without an explanation. The next day, the team found a highly venomous snake inside the clinic.
Chour was heartbroken, but at least Sweety died knowing what it meant to be loved.
