Pelopor.nl

Bali Dogs

Mankind isn’t nice to animals. Factually the introduction of man on the face of the world was the worst scenario possible for all the rest of  fauna on the globe.  It looks like the more people there are, the tougher life for animals becomes – generally speaking. Just ask chickens here or stray dogs on Bali.

The Netherlands with over 400 inhabitants per square kilometre  is-  apart from a score of small island-countries and city-states -   the 4th most densely populated country in the world. That leaves hardly any space left for wildlife.  Therefore we wiped them out.  A number of birds,  some fish and a few rabbits, foxes and squirrels – that’s about all which has remained in this very wet delta.  Well,  not quite actually.  We can count in artificially created small national parks with a couple of wild horses, some scores of Heck cattle and a few hundred wild boars.

The Oerang Oetang  and Sumatran Tiger may be  jeopardised by human competition for space also. But the last wolf in the Netherlands was shot centuries ago already, the last beaver has been caught early twentieth century, the last salmon has been spotted forty odd years ago in the polluted river Rhine. Therefore we Dutch can’t have but a slightly twisted relation to fauna, I’m afraid. Which doesn’t mean the lowlands at the sea don’t abound with animals. Millions of them.  Even a few exotic ones- in Zoos that is.  There still is a wealth of free birds fortunately. Yet the bulk of  Dutch animals stay at huge farms which are part of the very thriving export bio-industry: poultry, pigs and cows that will never see the daylight and which are packed in huge buildings.. The space they have often is hardly enough to move at all. They live their short miserable life only to be eaten.  The circumstances of these ‘farms ‘are such there has been outbreaks of  epidemic diseases which resulted in the mandatory destruction of hundreds of thousands or even millions of chickens, pigs, cows and only very recently, goats. The “Animal Party” is in Dutch parliament with two seats for a reason: someone has to protest the very often appalling conditions  animals have to live in from their birth to the slaughterhouse .

On the other hand we have a considerable population of domesticated animals at our premises or even in our homes. Our pets- horses, cats, dogs, goldfish, whatever – usually live in unnatural luxury in an unnatural biotope. I plead guilty. When my children were still real children they wanted pets. So we bought a dog, Donna. And another dog, Skippy. And another one, Elwood – which was a bitch but baptised “Elwood” because Britt, Gunnar and Ingmar loved the Elwood character from the Blues Brothers. Yes  that’s twisted too, be it in a rather innocent way, I guess. I hope.

So as a Dutchman and father I have to plead guilty of abuse of animals. I’m about the  last person in the position to criticize people at the other end of the world for the way they deal with our non-human fellow creatures .  I want to refrain from that.  Yet I have to work off my feelings. Because I actually felt a pang of pain when I heard about the fate of dogs on Bali.  I know the Island depends on tourism.  It stands to reason that after oblivion gradually has neutralized the bomb blasts, every effort should be made to maintain a spotless image. The approximately 550.00 dogs on one of  the most beautiful holiday destinations in the world should not ruin that. That I can understand. Especially since the majority of them are stray dogs.

Yet till recently they were no serious problem, though the Bali governor seems to think otherwise . But now they have the bad luck of living in times of rabies.  And that is a  pain in the ass for the crucial tourist industry. But even more so for the dogs, because it offers the authorities a convincing opportunity to act. The 200.000 privileged animals that have been vaccinated need not fear.  And  the 100.000+ suckers which have been killed already need not fear any more. But definitely  the odd 250000 which are still at large  are  under the threat of efforts by the authorities to stamp out the dangerous disease by eliminating them. They are in great jeopardy. Almost a quarter of a million  live with a death sentence hanging over their sorry heads, irrespective whether they suffer from rabies or not. It’s exactly the way Dutch authorities dealt with their chickens, cows, pigs and goats – large scale killings. They are not being treated as living creatures but as things, as commodities.

There is strong local and even International opposition to the present Bali solution in relation to rabies. A more subtle handling and vaccination seems to be so much more appropriate. And better for Bali’s international PR. Though I have to grant governor Made Mangku Pastika  that he perhaps lacks the money may for real alternatives.

On second thought.. Lack of money…? Bali?