Bristol woman's dogged determination to help Thai strays
She had difficulty walking as her back legs were bent. Yet that did not stop her following Jayne Chard wherever she went during a holiday on the Thai island of Koh Tao.
"One day on the beach this very small puppy just attached herself to me, and for the rest of the holiday she was constantly at my side," recalls Jayne.
"This little dog was in a pretty bad state, with severe mange, fleas and worms. We couldn't work out why her back legs were bent, but it may have been because she was malnourished.
"But even though she was so unwell, she followed me everywhere."
Jayne, who runs her own film company, had gone to Koh Tao, an island in the Gulf of Thailand, on holiday with her friend Miranda Warrer , and Miranda's eight-year-old son Jordan, who is Jayne's godson.
The puppy began sleeping on their balcony. Jayne and Miranda did their best to tend to her, and bought treatments for her mange, fleas and worms.
"We called her Nit Noi, which is Thai for Little One," says Jayne.
"We had this huge discussion about whether we should take her back to Britain, but decided it wouldn't be possible. A local restaurant owner we'd made friends with promised to keep an eye on her, but Nit Noi realised we were leaving and became very upset.
"As we drove away in an open back taxi to get a boat to the nearest large island, Koh Samui, to catch a flight to Bangkok, she started running after us. It was terrible. We were so distressed."
Jayne is silent for a moment. I look up from my notebook, and realise her eyes have filled with tears.
"It upsets me even now to think about it," she says.
I am not the only one looking at Jayne. Two deep brown eyes have also been watching her intently. It is Nit Noi, who is sitting on the floor near Jayne's feet.
The puppy who was so ill when Jayne first saw her in April 2001 is now a grown dog with a glossy black coat, who still likes to stay close to her owner's side.
Nit Noi lives in Jayne's home in Clifton, Bristol, and has been the inspiration for an animal rescue centre that Jayne set up to help other strays on the island of Koh Tao.
On Saturday a fundraising event called Strictly Bristol Ballroom will be held to raise funds for the centre. Among the local celebrities taking part will be TV presenters Susan Osman, Jamie Breese and Sherrie Eugene: radio presenter Kate Pitman; boxer Dean Francis; actor Mark Danbury and TV vet Maria Lowe.
The event will include a competition between celebrities who have learned to dance especially for the events, plus professional dance performance and a charity auction.
"The clinic costs around £20,000 a year to run, so this charity event will be vital to our funds," says Jayne, who in addition to Nit Noi also has a dog called Ruby, who is aged nine.
So how has Nit Noi ended up living with Jayne in Bristol, when the original plan had been to leave her in her native Thailand?
"I came back and tried to forget about her, but I couldn't," says Jayne.
"I was very worried about her and so were Miranda and Jordan. After about three months we decided we'd have to go back to find her.
"I sorted out quarantine in Bristol, and made arrangements to fly her back to the UK. Then I got a big job and had to go away, so Miranda and Jordan went back to Koh Tao on their own."
When Miranda and Jordan returned to the island, they could not find Nit Noi. Then another puppy with an injured leg attached himself to them, who they called Star because he had a star-shaped marking on his chest.
Just as it was beginning to seem that Miranda and Jordan had made a wasted journey, Nit Noi turned up.
"She was in a terrible state, but she remembered Miranda and Jordan," says Jayne.
"Someone had cut off part of her tail, and it looked as if she had been kicked because her ribs were damaged. She was nearly dead."
Miranda and Jordan decided they could not leave Star behind, so they ended up taking two dogs on the boat to Koh Samui. They had intended to take Star to a rescue centre in Koh Samui but ended up deciding to take both dogs back to the UK, and flew them from Koh Samui airport to Bangkok.
Jayne recalls: "The airport staff at Koh Samui insisted both dogs were heavily sedated for the flight. After they arrived in Bangkok, Miranda went to sort out some paperwork and left Jordan with the dogs.
"He opened Star's sky kennel and stroked him, and then opened Nit Noi's and went to stroke her and she bit him. She sunk her teeth into him and wouldn't let go. A security guard had to prise her off him.
"Then it became clear why Nit Noi had attacked him. She'd gone blind because of the sedatives. Her eyes were no longer brown, but were blue, and she was very distressed and confused."
Miranda had to take Jordan to hospital for treatment before they could fly home to Britain with the dogs, which were then taken to Overhill Kennels in Whitchurch to stay in quarantine.
Nit Noi's sight returned while she was in quarantine.
However, there were new challenges to be faced when Jayne was finally able to bring the two dogs back to her home.
"They were both absolutely mad by the time they got out," she says. "Here were two wild dogs who had never been taught to walk on a lead, and were so excited to be out of quarantine. It took me about a year to get them to calm down and get them used to socialising."
At that time, Jayne was directing major TV series including Hollyoaks, Grange Hill and Brookside. "They became quite well-known on Brookside Close, as I'd walk them on the set," she laughs.
And although Jayne was already busy with a demanding career and two very demanding dogs, she was also set about trying to set up an animal clinic on the tiny Thai island of Koh Tao.
Surely she had more than enough to cope with already?
"I'd made a promise, and I was determined to keep it," says Jayne, who later found Star a home with a policeman and his wife who live in Swindon.
"When we were trying to help Nit Noi, the man who was effectively the local mayor wanted us to help other dogs on the island. There were about 10 or 15 packs of wild dogs, living on different areas of the beach, and I promised him that I'd set up a clinic on the island."
Jayne set up a UK registered charity and started raising funds for a clinic. The Noistar Animal Rescue Foundation – named after the two rescued Thai dogs – was opened in July 2004 at a cost of about £12,000.
To date, the clinic has treated more than 5,000 animals and the estimated dog population on Koh Tao has been reduced from 2,000 to 700.
"Before the clinic was set up, the only methods of controlling the number of dogs on Koh Tao involved the government sending over men with guns to shoot them every couple of years, or laying poison which meant that dogs died in excruciating pain," says Jayne.
Strictly Bristol Ballroom takes place on Saturday, July 4 from 8pm at BAWA Sport and Leisure Club, Southmead Road, Bristol, BS34 7RG. To book tickets call 0117 968 7279.
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