The Bali Animal Welfare Association (BAWA) is a not-for-profit charity registered in Indonesia. Its mandate is to relieve suffering, control the population and improve the health of Bali’s street dogs, while educating the local population in animal welfare.
BAWA supports a fully staffed clinic near Ubud, a 24 hour animal ambulance, a mobile sterilization clinic, an education program, a puppy adoption program, plus a continually expanding range of community programs.
BAWA is funded by individual donors and the Bali Street Dog Fund Australia but urgently seeks support for its many programs.
BAWA was founded by Janice Girardi, an American resident in Bali for over 30 years, and leading Indonesian veterinarian Dr. Dewa Made Dharma.
Janice has supported community animal welfare projects in Bali for over 10 years, supporting many of BAWA’s programs from her own resources. Dr Dharma has practiced and taught veterinary medicine for many years, while supporting animal welfare organizations. BAWA currently has an experienced team of 7 Indonesian vets, who have all received additional training from Bali Street Dog Fund vets . BAWA’s vets are supported by a dedicated team of
nurses and helpers.
QCA note: We are happy to draw members’ attention to this excellent group for two reasons – their education programme and their important work on eliminating rabies on Bali.
This year’s Bali Dog Idol (BDI), hosted by local Yayasan Bali Animal Welfare Association (BAWA), will harness the opportunity to educate participants and their families in rabies awareness and prevention.
BDI is an interactive animal welfare challenge, open to local residents who have adopted puppies or dogs from BAWA. Over a six-month period, contestants are assessed on the care they have taken of their companion animals – with judging based on overall health, physical appearance, as well as the dog’s temperament, connection with guardian and receptiveness to training.
Now in its third year, BDI continues to grow – with 72 contestants competing in this year’s event, held at Bali Bird Park on Sunday, April 3.
BAWA founding director Janice Girardi said that Bali Dog Idol represented BAWA’s most important program – education.
“I truly believe that teaching about concepts of responsible companion animal guardianship and animal welfare is the only way to ensure a better future for both the people and animals of Bali.
Human health is closely linked to animal health – to have a healthy human population, we need healthy animals. Today is all about celebrating and fostering a better understanding of the connection between the two.”
Janice presents the awards
THE RABIES VACCINATION PROGRAMME
March 31 2011 marked the last anti-rabies injection of the first phase of Bali’s island-wide mass dog vaccination program.
Preliminary statistics reveal a 48 per cent reduction in human rabies deaths from December 1, 2010 to March 30, 2011, compared with the same period the previous year – proving the program’s initial success.
In addition, the number of dog rabies cases in Bali has decreased by 45% when comparing the same two periods.
BAWA played a key assisting role to Bali’s provincial government in this program.
Bali’s first island-wide vaccination program, which is based on a humane animal welfare approach, began in October 2010 as a response to Bali’s rabies outbreak.
More than 70 per cent of Bali’s 300,000-strong dog population is now vaccinated against the disease. Rabid dogs, unvaccinated dogs bitten by a rabid dog and incurably sick dogs are humanely euthanized.
Janice Girardi said 210,000 dogs are now vaccinated in 4126 banjars across Bali.
While we celebrate this achievement, we also pay our respects to the people of this island who have died of rabies,” Girardi said.
While rabies cases are decreasing, all people still need to remain vigilant and seek post exposure treatment if bitten.”
International scientists, disease control experts and organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also recommend mass vaccination of the animal reservoir species (in Bali’s case, this is dogs) as the most effective means of controlling and eradicating rabies. This creates a barrier to the spread of the disease, leading to its eradication.
Girardi said:
This mass-vaccination program is the only practical and humane solution Bali has for eradicating rabies and preventing more tragic loss of human life in the future.
And of course, this vaccination program has also saved the lives of many hundreds of thousands of Bali dogs, who would have otherwise been culled with strychnine.”
BAWA received help from funding partner World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), who provided funds to cover operational expenses and AusAID which provided the vaccines and other supplies for the program which currently employs more than 400 Balinese people, with all field staff having been pre-vaccinated to ensure their health and safety.
Girardi said BAWA’s vision was now cast forward to the second phase of vaccinations, which was anticipated to be a coordinated effort with the provincial and central Governments, BAWA and other stakeholders such as WSPA, FAO, WHO and AusAID.
We are hopeful that the vaccination program will continue until Bali is free of rabies. This may happen after the second phase, but rabies experts predict a third one may also be required in 2012.”
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