Niall Harbison
Appearances
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
Oh, here he is. Hello, mister. His tail is wagging, which is a good... That's my finger, mister. You can see his back leg is really not doing fantastic. He's in a lot of pain. We can fix you, mister. You're going to go to the doggy spa, a full health check-up, nice food. What more could you want than that, mister? It's your lucky day.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
Lovely to be able to jump in there.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
So down here, we're just walking past the dogs. They'll probably start barking. That's Bridgie. I'm sure most people have been to a dog charity. It can be quite depressing. It can feel like a prison where the dogs are going crazy and it's noisy. I wanted it to be the opposite of that, if possible. Dogs are still, you know, they'll bark and they'll fight a little bit.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
But we wanted to make it nice for the dogs and for the people.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
Yeah, and it is. It's more like a rehabilitation centre where we can get the dogs back on their feet. I mean, the thing is, they come in bad, but dogs have unbelievable spirit, as most people know. They might be sick, but within a day or two, we can turn their lives around.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
We rely really on, you know, medicines and doctors and vets, but actually a nice, safe place, food, love, just a little bit of attention, that can... fix an awful lot. It's not going to fix cancer or a broken leg but it does help an awful lot with the street dogs.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
I was always an alcoholic and suffered from depression. But I moved to Thailand to get away really from the grey, cold English-Irish winters to try and help my health. But that sort of backfired because I ended up in hospital here from nearly drinking myself to death. But then I had a sort of epiphany. I was like, I have to do something meaningful in my life.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
And that's when the street dogs came in. So I just started feeding one or two on my way home on the bike. And then it's grown into this. It's just more and more dogs... And we sterilise dogs. We're building a hospital. We sterilise 7,000 dogs every month. So I'm trying to make a difference for the street dog.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
Well, actually, people like a bit of good news, you know, and that's hopefully why they're starting their day with that, because there's quite a bombardment of bad news. So, yeah, it's a little bit of hope in their day. What is your ultimate plan? The ultimate plan is ridiculous and I'll probably fail. There's 500 million street dogs in the world and in my lifetime, I want to half that.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
So that's 250 million street dogs. So it's bonkers to try and do that. But we're going to try and do it through sterilisation, education and legislation. We need to get government support. We're on the way, but there's just so much to do.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
Boy, Mr Tom Cruise, look at that leg go, mister. It's back in action today. It's back in action. You're moving faster every day, Tom Cruise. I can't keep up with you, mister. You're a flying machine. You're a flying machine. Look at him go. If that's not the happiest dog in Thailand, I don't know who is.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
I can't keep up with you, mister. You're a flying machine. You're a flying machine. Look at him go.