Source: Barcroft Media
Dogs are being stolen by criminal gangs in Thailand and smuggled into neighbouring Vietnam where they are being sold in restaurants as pork or chicken.
Thai authorities have warned kennels are filled to bursting after more than 2,000 pets were rescued in the last six months.
Dog is a delicacy in many parts of China and Vietnam, while other times it is passed off as more expensive meats such as pork.
While most of these dogs that make their way to the dinner table are strays, a recent police bust near the Thailand-Laos border has revealed that family pets are also being targeted to fuel the demand.
Thai armed police stopped a gang of smugglers in Nakhon Phanom, in the north of the country, where the Thai navy conducts patrols to try to prevent the smuggling of both dogs and drugs across the Mekong River.
Local television broadcast pictures of a lorry laden with 800 dogs crammed into cages. Thai Navy had stopped the vehicle as it attempted to cross the border into Laos.
Thousands of highly prized pooches have been sent to a rescue centre in the town of Burriram, where once-pristine poodles and family Labradors are crammed into cages with street dogs.
So far, only one of the pet dogs has been reunited with its owner. But hundreds of distraught owners have been heading to the shelters in hopes of reuniting with their faithful friends.
The dogs are often transported with muzzles and their paws are bound. They are packed into wire crates and trucked alive across the border through Laos and on to Vietnam and China.
Dog meat is not popular in Laos and Thailand, but restaurant owners often sell dog meat passing it off as pork. As a result, most of the business has shifted to nearby countries like China and Vietnam.
A stolen dog costs around £7 in Thailand, where most people refuse to eat animals they consider pets. In Vietnam and China, each animal can fetch up to £20.
Under Thai law, it illegal to steal pet dogs, but rounding and caging strays is not banned.
The law is only broken when the dogs are smuggled, but in a country which lies bang in the centre Golden triangle of drugs, dog smuggling remains a low priority.