Bhutan has strengthened its animal welfare infrastructure with the opening of a new shelter in Thimphu designed to provide medical treatment, rehabilitation and longer-term care for rescued, injured and abandoned animals.
Her Majesty Queen Mother Tshering Yangdoen Wangchuck inaugurated the Nu 11.7 million facility, established by the Royal Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (RSPCA) Bhutan. The inauguration coincided with World Rabies Day, underlining the shelter’s wider role in humane animal population management and rabies prevention.
The new facility includes dedicated spaces for animals requiring different levels of care, including a day-care centre and an intensive care unit. An incinerator shed has also been constructed as part of the complex. In addition to sheltering animals in distress, the centre will offer day-care services to pet owners.
RSPCA Bhutan, which will manage the facility, has worked in animal rescue and welfare since 1999. Over the years, the organisation has also been involved in sterilisation and vaccination programmes and campaigns encouraging responsible pet ownership.
Executive Director Tashi Payden Tshering said the organisation’s work had emerged partly from efforts to find a humane alternative to the culling of stray dogs while addressing the threat of dog-mediated rabies.
“That was the alternative we provided to the culling of stray dogs, ensuring we could prevent dog-mediated rabies,” she said. Reflecting on the inauguration, she added that the organisation felt closer to its long-standing vision of creating a society in which people and animals could coexist “in harmony, with mutual love and respect, and where every life is valued.”
The opening ceremony also saw the launch of Dongkarla, the Dog Bull, a book by Charmi Chheda based on the unusual true story of a bull raised among dogs at the RSPCA shelter.
Dongkarla arrived at the shelter as a calf and spent his early life surrounded by dogs, apparently growing up believing he was one of them. According to Chheda, the story takes a turn when the bull encounters his own reflection and realises that he does not look like his canine companions.
“When I heard Dongkarla’s story from the RSPCA, I was inspired and moved,” Chheda said. She described the book as her contribution to the organisation, with all proceeds from its sale going towards the shelter and the care and protection of animals.
The shelter was funded through the Government of India’s Project Tied Assistance Fund, routed through the Royal Government of Bhutan. RSPCA Bhutan also received assistance from government agencies and organisations including Project Dantak, De-suung and the Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation.
For the RSPCA, the additional infrastructure significantly expands its capacity to respond to animals in distress. The organisation will now have more dedicated space to rescue, medically treat and rehabilitate animals, while providing longer-term shelter to those unable to return immediately to the streets or find another home.
The facility is also expected to complement Bhutan’s broader efforts to manage animal populations humanely, strengthen vaccination and sterilisation initiatives and reduce the risk of rabies transmission.
