Beverley Teenager Aims to Make a Difference

Soi Dog Foundation

Your help is needed to enable a teenager make a huge difference to some of the planet’s worst treated animals.

Louise Marritt is heading to later this month to work with some of the country’s horribly maltreated cats and dogs, ahead of a move into further education.

For two months, Louise will be a volunteer at the Soi Dog Foundation in the southern Thailand islands. Thailand has a huge problem with feral dogs, but the ways some local people try to deal with the problem are particularly foul.

Louise, along with fellow volunteers, will help look after these distressed animals, nurse them back to help and give them a chance to finally get some enjoyment out of their lives.

She is currently seeking a small amount of money to help her fulfil her dream. This is Louise’s story. Please read and do all you can to help a Beverley girl make a real difference – and act as a fine ambassador for the town.

“La gòrn! At least, that’s what I’ll be saying in May when I bid farewell to my job in Howden to head out to Phuket and Koh Lanta.I’m relocating to the southern Thailand islands for two months to volunteer at Soi Dog Foundation, which takes care of mistreated, abandoned and feral dogs and cats.

Thailand has a huge problem with stray dogs in particular, and some of the owners have some very unsavoury methods of removing them including poison, lacing food with fishhooks and throwing scalding oil on the animals.

Soi Dog and Lanta Animal Welfare are registered charities and provide free care to local pets and strays alongside neutering the animals. I will be spending my time working alongside the medical personnel to provide support, undertaking menial tasks such as feeding, cleaning and exercising the animals.
However my most important task will be just spending time with them – human contact is really important to rehabilitate the dogs and cats, and it means their chance of being rehomed is greatly improved.

I decided to take a volunteer break a few months ago when I found out that I had been accepted to study Animal Management at in September, and began looking on the internet. I was very shocked to see that a lot of companies charge thousands of pounds for volunteering placements, and the charities see very little of this money.

So I began to search for charitable organisations myself before stumbling across the Soi Dog website (www.soidog.org).
I was really moved by the pictures on the website, and that work that is done there, and decided that it was a place where my work would be very worthwhile.
I’ll be working between five and six days each week, so I won’t have time to get bored.
May seems like such a long way away right now, but I know it will come around in no time at all. The flights are booked, I’ve arranged my visa and everything’s all set. There’s no going back now!

I have self-funded the majority of my trip, and will be living very basically on a budget of around £15 per day including and food.
However, even with costs as low as they are in Thailand it’s still quite expensive, with flights, visas and immunisations (a rabies jab alone costs £170!) on top of daily living.

Because of this I have started to fund-raise, and this is why I need you – and there are a number of ways that you could help. The first is to visit my website www.phuketfundraising.com and make a donation.

All money is very gratefully received, and all sponsors will receive a mention on my website and will receive updates on my work. Alternatively you can visit my website www.catfaceandpancakes.com where I sell my amigurumi animals and 100% of the profits are going towards my trip.

I have a huge amount of support so far and I’m currently half of the way towards my target of £900. However this is still around £450 short and time is short. My work is vitally important to me and the centre particularly given Thailand’s current political climate – the centre normally relies on short-term help from tourists – however since the troubles there have been much fewer tourists in Thailand.

It’s true that every little helps, I’ve had donations from £2 to £40, so please consider helping me towards my goal.”



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