Hand to Paw Thailand

2025, Looking Forward, Looking Back

Troy Roberts — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 12:15:09 +0000

At Hand to Paw Thailand, we believe that every animal deserves to live with dignity and that compassion should lead the way in every community. Since 2009, our mission has been simple yet profound: to take away the pain of vulnerable dogs and cats and create sustainable, community-based solutions for animal welfare across Northern Thailand.

We are proud to share our 2025 Year in Review, a document that celebrates the lives saved, the communities transformed, and the incredible supporters who make this work possible.

Our Impact at a Glance

Powered entirely by volunteers and the generosity of our donors, we ensure that 100% of funds raised go directly to animal care.

25,000+ Lives Changed: Since our inception, we have transformed the lives of over 25,000 animals.
3,000+ Annual Sterilizations: We perform over 3,000 spay and neuter procedures every year to manage populations humanely.
5,000 Vaccinations: Our goal is to protect 5,000 dogs annually against deadly diseases like Rabies and Parvo.
15 Active Temples: We provide medical care, food, and emergency support for over 150 animals living in local temples.

Inside the 2025 Report

This year’s report offers a deep dive into our four interconnected pillars: Population Management, Community Outreach, Rescues & Interventions, and The Temple Program.

What you’ll find inside:

Success Stories: Meet Moonlight, Namcha, Apple, Caramel and a few others; animals who went from the brink of tragedy to thriving lives thanks to our interventions.
Vision for 2026: A breakdown of our $93,000 operational goals and our $270,000 construction target, detailing how we plan to expand our geographic reach and strengthen community resilience.
The Power of People: A tribute to our founder, Joy Huss, and our current Director, Amandine Lecesne, whose tireless dedication fuels our safety net for the region.

Rescue becomes the exception rather than a daily necessity when knowledge and resources empower communities.

Join Our Mission

Your support is the quiet force behind every recovery. Whether it is funding a life-saving surgery or a local educational workshop, your contribution creates a measurable outcome for animals who often go unseen.

Download the Full 2025 Year in Review Brochure

The post 2025, Looking Forward, Looking Back appeared first on Hand to Paw Thailand.

Why Our Spay/Neuter Program Matters

Troy Roberts — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 03:20:14 +0000

Given that sometimes, people reading these posts have not lived in Thailand, I thought it was worth describing what it’s like for a big majority of street dogs. Just to help explain

Because spay/neuter is still fairly new as an initiative in Thailand (it’s become popular only in the last decade or so; thanks to non-profit groups like Hand to Paw promoting the benefits and offering it free of charge), many dogs were and still are being birthed unwanted. There are an estimated 70,000 roaming dogs in Chiang Mai province (where we are). When they come into this world unwanted (sometimes a street dog has gone inside someone’s yard or under their house to birth their entire litter), people who didn’t choose to have them around are confronted with 6-8 new dogs in their area following just one birth. When any of the females go into heat, the pack fight at all hours of the day and night. The villagers may get annoyed and shoo the dogs away, shoot them with pellet guns so they don’t stick around asking for food, poison and kill the dogs because they’re seen as pests, take the dogs and abandon them in another area, etc.

Dogs who are born on the streets or end up dumped on the streets will walk great lengths to try and find food. Sometimes, kind villagers will leave leftover food outside for them to eat and the dog will walk to and from various food sources to survive. It is absolutely heartbreaking to me that so many street dogs get nothing more than a bit to eat and sometimes, a space out of the elements to stay safe from the sun and the rain. They all deserve so much more protection. But on the flip side, I think that Thailand is one of the kindest countries who openly lets street dogs live outside of 7/11 stores, on parking lots, in temples, and many of the dogs will survive by getting fed by kind and decent people. This is such a blessing.

A great deal of people in areas around us live slightly above the poverty line. Someone told me today that her daughter used to go to public school up the road from where they live in Chiang Mai. The mom befriended one of the teachers who told her that the public school required photos of the school children’s home and bed. She wrote: “some entire families are living in a hut in one room on a mattress that is worse than anything I’d give my dogs. The kids have not eaten when they get to school and the school meal is all they eat. The school provides a toothbrush tied to a string and that time at school might be the only time that they brush their teeth.” So when a family who is barely surviving themselves, offers a bowl of rice and bits of fish to the street dog suffering outside of its gate… I can’t help but be moved by their kindness. And I don’t criticize when they simply can’t afford to take the dog to the clinic when it gets hit by a car or cancer starts to spread. That’s when we step in.

With 70,000 dogs considered street/roaming dogs just in our province alone… we have to look at the bigger picture. Creating a shelter and taking the dogs in would realistically only work for a few hundred dogs until the shelter was overwhelmed and funds were drained. Instead, what we strive to do is to offer mass spay efforts, and to offer it free of charge and through mobile spay days. We have a team of 6 vets who, 3-4 weekends a month, will sterilize 40-60 animals a day, in various regions. In the last 8 years, we have surpassed 15,000 spays. We need to keep going though! Every litter that is born on the street is a series of catastrophes waiting to happen. Alternatively, each female dog we spay helps increase her own chances of survival plus ensures that hundreds more dogs aren’t born just to suffer.

We also offer temporary medical care to these street dogs. When people in the community flag up that a dog needs help, we come and assess and provide medications and treatment to the dog in its own environment or, for more severe cases, we take the dog to the clinic, returning the dog afterwards to the only place it knows as “home”. Treating dogs where they live allows for the dogs to be less stressed as they recover, and since we do much of the wound care ourselves, we save on costs!

Mass vaccinations of these street dogs (who often remain unprotected unless we intervene) is also a huge priority. With so many dogs getting into contact with other street dogs, one Distemper or Parvo case can wipe out a whole neighborhood of dogs. I get so stressed to know that it continues to happen, even today.

We are grateful to the kind people in Thailand who offer food and a bit of protection for the dogs. We then serve to double up the support by coming in and spaying, vaccinating, and offering help for medical emergencies.

If you want to help us make a difference, donations are the best way to show your support! You can reach us at paypal.me/forThailandanimals or WISE email address: HandtoPawThailand@gmail.com

We receive no government support for the work we do and all rescues and projects are funded through private donations. Veterinary care in Thailand is much cheaper than in other countries though, so we can stretch your donations and help many!

We are a registered Foundation in Thailand and also a 501c3 in the US follow our page and be part of our success stories!

The post Why Our Spay/Neuter Program Matters appeared first on Hand to Paw Thailand.

Helping Chiang Mai Community in times of need

htpadmin — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 06:37:47 +0000

We meet people along the way who have almost nothing but who sacrifice everything to make the lives of animals better.

In the heart of Thailand, there is this woman with 29 cats and 9 dogs. She works in the fields to make a living and lives with very meager earnings. People know her in the village as an animal lover so kittens and dogs are dumped on her property and in spite of having very little money, she can’t leave them to die and finds a space for them in her home each time.

The flooding certainly didn’t help her situation and the water flooded the road to her house last week and made it impossible for her to work in the fields for a few days. Thanks to a donation from Felice Cnx and her husband Kev (who collected donations from friends), we were able to bring blankets, cat food, dog food, litter, and more 💕

We are hoping to raise just $350 USD (12,000 baht) to help her a little more with flea meds, vaccinations, and more comfortable dog areas. If you want to be a part of the magic, here’s how to donate! A little goes a LONG way 🥰

The post Helping Chiang Mai Community in times of need appeared first on Hand to Paw Thailand.

Chiang Mai Spay Day Preparations

htpadmin — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 06:37:52 +0000

☀️ This afternoon, we went all around Mae Tang, Chiang Mai, (north of where we are) getting ready for our spay day this Saturday in the area. We spoke to villagers about picking up their animals, looked at where to set traps Friday evening ahead of the event, and distributed food to villagers who are struggling financially, some because of the recent flooding ❤️‍🩹

🐾 In the process, we found a little sick puppy 💕 we’re off to the clinic to get her checked out! She’ll be up for adoption once she is recovered: momma is sweet and they are all small sized. The people who look after them are very poor and would love to see the dogs go to good homes 🙏

Can you can help with a donation towards our work?

Free Sterilisation Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/freesterilization

The post Chiang Mai Spay Day Preparations appeared first on Hand to Paw Thailand.

Mange and other Parasites are so cruel

htpadmin — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 04:18:21 +0000

Before and after 💕 we found this four-month old puppy in horrid condition along with three siblings. All had to be hospitalized as they had severe infections. It took almost two months but they are looking so good now!!

They are now completely transformed and treated against mange, intestinal parasites, bacterial infections, and blood parasites 🥰

The post Mange and other Parasites are so cruel appeared first on Hand to Paw Thailand.

Before & After Puppy Treated by Hand to Paw Thailand

htpadmin — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 04:10:54 +0000

They are now completely transformed and treated against mange, intestinal parasites, bacterial infections, and blood parasites 🥰 they were sterilized right at the end too ♥️

The post Before & After Puppy Treated by Hand to Paw Thailand appeared first on Hand to Paw Thailand.

TVT Cancer Treatment in Chiang Mai by Hand to Paw Thailand

htpadmin — Sat, 28 Sep 2024 04:03:30 +0000

Urgent 🚨 we need to raise another $800 USD (26,000 baht) to cover the costs of these two siblings’ hospitalization for 4-6 weeks.

🐾 None of us take a salary and we receive no government support or grants for our rescue initiatives. We take animals to the clinic and then fundraise to help pay for their care 💕 these animals would often receive no medical interventions without us looking out for them and in this case, these dogs would likely have been left to slowly die over the course of the next few months.

We have the chance to make it better 💕

The post TVT Cancer Treatment in Chiang Mai by Hand to Paw Thailand appeared first on Hand to Paw Thailand.

Hand to Paw Thailand Community Project Update

htpadmin — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 03:57:04 +0000

💕 This elderly woman who was sleeping outdoors with her dogs.

Thanks to your generous donations we helped build her and her 10 dogs a room!

Look at how beautifully it all turned out 🥰

We are changing the lives of thousands of animals and humans in practical ways 🙏

Hand to Paw Thailand Supporter Generosity Changes Lives

The post Hand to Paw Thailand Community Project Update appeared first on Hand to Paw Thailand.

Can you give a temporary home to this sweet gentle soul

htpadmin — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 03:49:40 +0000

🐕 Our beautiful Rhino is about to have surgery to fix her palate!

The tumor pierced through the palate when it was growing bigger and curing her from cancer left her with a hole at the roof of her mouth. This has made eating difficult (but we’ve been careful!) and today is the big day to fix it all!! 🐾

We are also urgently seeking a foster home or adoptive family for her, once she has recovered. She is the sweetest dog, very loving and sweet with others, and needs gentleness 💕 she is easy going and not a runaway risk. ALL costs for her would be covered.

If you could be a good fit, please let me know!

Invasive but treatable cancer

The post Can you give a temporary home to this sweet gentle soul appeared first on Hand to Paw Thailand.

Fly high and pain-free Coco

htpadmin — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 03:41:21 +0000

Today, we gave Coco her angel wings. Her liver and spleen were too severely attacked by blood parasites and, even with intensive care, we were not able to reverse the damage.

💙 As much as the family loved her, they did not want her to suffer any longer and gave us permission to release her from her failing body. She was euthanized at home with her loving owners holding her and crying 🐾

💛 Thank you to those who donated so we could run some extra tests and give her a fighting chance. If we could have turned it around, we would have made it happen.

💚 Fly high and pain-free Coco 🙏 🐾

Coco’s blood parasite damage is severe

The post Fly high and pain-free Coco appeared first on Hand to Paw Thailand.