Thousands Of Dogs Saved From Dinner Table

Thousands of dogs have been rescued after they were found stuffed into tiny cages destined for dinner tables across Vietnam.

Thai police intercepted four trucks stacked high with crates packed with the animals in an operation in northeastern Thailand near the border with Laos.

A Nakhon Phanom livestock development official said 1,011 dogs were being held in a government shelter after two separate raids in Nathom and Si Songkhram districts.

But she said a further 119 had died from either suffocation in the cramped cages or when they were thrown from the back of the trucks as the alleged traffickers tried to flee police.

Police officer Captain Prawat Pholsuwan said two Thai men and a Vietnamese man were charged with trafficking and the illegal transportation of animals.

He said the dogs were being smuggled out of the country to be cooked and eaten in Vietnam.

"The maximum punishment is a one-year jail term and a fine of up to 20,000 baht (£410)," he said.

Traffickers, who round up stray dogs and barter for pets in rural Thai villages, can receive up to £20 per dog in Vietnam, police said.

Earlier this year, in a similar story, 500 dogs narrowly escaped being sold for their meat in China after animal lovers rescued them from a truck transporting them for slaughter.