Bali Street Dogs

There is an organization called Bali Street Dogs. And there are a couple animal welfare societies, BAWA being one of them. Thankfully. Truly this was the most upsetting part of our visit. Just broke my heart to see so many of them. It was more than just upsetting and heart-breaking. It was disturbing.. Yeah, I was that "crazy" American woman that carried around a bag of dog food - along with whatever other actual food I could get my hands on every day and left it for the dogs. There is, according to our Bali "rep," a big problem with rabies to go along with the ever increasing and never-ending population of these poor dogs.

Interesting thing about these dogs, most of them turned down the dog food I was leaving. Why? According to our guide, they are not used to eating dog food. They eat people food. Mostly rice. All were more than happy to eat the meat I would leave - steak scraps, pork sate, ham... And the cheese and crackers. Along with rolls and bread.

I left a pile of crackers and a big pile of dog food for these two:

They ran off though, before I could tell whether or not they were much interested.

Fortunately there is a percentage of these "street dogs" that do belong to people. From what I understand the dogs go home at night, then in the day, they are free to roam at will. Safe? Hardly with the traffic. Again, our "rep" explained to me that every day as these dogs try to cross busy streets, "Splat!." They are hit by cars. That they are someone's pet, that is allowed to be injured or killed when it could be so preventable... Hardly much comfort.

I did not click on the "see photos" at the Bali Street Dogs site. If someone does go through the photo gallery there, let me know if I would be able to handle it. I had a hard enough time seeing up close and personal so many bone thin and obviously sick dogs. I will have those images forever etched into my memory. I took very few photos of these dogs. Not because I didn't want to - I should have taken more pictures! I had a very difficult time - the whole three weeks we were there - with the sadness of it all and sometimes instead of taking a photo where I had ample opportunity, I was more concerned with getting the dog food out or leaving whatever leftovers I was carrying. Often they were viewed as we were sitting in cafes and restaurants and would scurry off before I could get the camera on. Or, else, we were in a moving car and had passed out of their sight. As we were doing endless walking, I did have many photo opportunities. I rather regret that I didn't take more pictures to make their plight known.

I have contacted one organization about setting up some sort of way to do donations through my site. When I have something figured out I will do something to offer incentive to my few readers to donate and will put something from The Sandbox up as a reward - I have a few things in mind. I don't know, special tote bags from over here, or carved camels, or something.