Throughout Asia the dog meat trade used to flourish. In particular the town of Tha Rae in Sakon Nakhorn, north east Thailand had become a center for the export of dogs through Laos and into Vietnam. Dogs were collected in exchange for a bucket in villages throughout Thailand and then brought to Ta Rae. In Ta Rae the dogs are separated into grades. The best grade are shipped to Vietnam the rest are slaughtered and eaten locally. Thousands of dogs were slaughtered and shipped across the Mae Kong river every month. The business was worth almost as much as the drug trade and this business is legal because Thailand has no animal protection. The trade still goes on but much has been done to reduce the numbers. Thailand is working to stop the trade but as with the drug trade it is not always easy. Money can make people look the other way, corruption is hard to stamp out. The dogs that are rescued need all the help they can get.