Cats

Thus far, Thailand seems to be a haven for (sometimes not so) stray cats. There are cats everywhere, some of them very sickly and emaciated. Others, it seems, are 1/2 adopted, sporting colorful collars and having a dish of dry catfood to come "home" to in front of store fronts.

As we know, populations of species will naturally align themselves to the available energy of their environment. Barring any external influences, such as natural predators (or as we'll see, sterilization programs), if a species' numbers get too high, their population will collapse, only to grow again, and collapse again, ad infinitum.

(Incidentally, Honi Mundi once attended a NPS ranger talk about the subject in Rocky Mountain National Park, where the lack of natural predators forces the park to cull and sterilize the local caribou population)

Luckily, on Ko Phi Phi, the Lanta Animal Welfare organization periodically sets up shop to remove the uteri and testicles of unsuspecting cats.

We stumbled upon this grisly scene during an evening walk around town.

There were two vets doing the work. During this particular day, these two vets sterilized ~140 cats. This was the last of the day for this vet. Needless to say, she looked tired when we talked to her, but was happy to explain their work and the procedure itself.

Cats sleeping together are not typically this well organized ...

We learned that these guys were a bit too young to undergo the procedure (their balls didn't drop yet!), so they were waiting patiently for their mom to wake up.

We learned that locals round up and catch the cats, noting where they were captured, so they can be returned back to their home range.

Lanta Animal Welfare is doing good work. If you're interested in learning more, please visit their page: http://www.lantaanimalwelfare.com/