Transporting dogs without proper vaccination papers is illegal in Thailand, as is smuggling them into Laos without customs and tax documents. Eating them is not illegal, but it is not popular with locals, most of whom strongly oppose it. Yet here in Tha Rae, roadside stalls close to the town's main government building proffer sesame-cured, maroon-coloured slabs of sinewy dogmeat at 300 baht (£6) a kilo. Inside the large blue coolers that separate the stalls are the pale white carcasses of frozen dog parts: heads, torsos, haunches. "People use the heads and legs in tom yum soup," explains a stallkeeper, nursing her baby, "but you could make any kind of dish you want with it.