Bali Rabies Epidemic
Mar 22nd, 2010, in News, by ET
Mangy, bite-happy stray dogs on Bali and an outbreak of rabies have authorities scrambling.
Besides the omnipresent scattered waste Bali now also has to deal with the problem of rabies infections which, aggravated by the indisciplined and negligent mindset of many Balinese who still let their dogs roam the streets, continue to mount on the resort island.
The local newspaper Radar Bali reports that deaths attributed to the disease are also mounting in the face of the depletion of emergency government funds allocated to fight rabies. In the light of the worsening situation, Governor Made Mangku Pastika on February 23, 2010, convened those delegated with fighting rabies in Bali for a meeting.
In attendance were representatives from the Bali Department of Health dealing with communicable disease, environmental health officials and representatives from Bali’s main general hospital. Following that meeting, the officials told the press that Bali was still in an ‘extraordinary situation’ in its confrontation with rabies, made worse by the high rates of dog bites being reported to the authorities every day.
Bali’s main general hospital at Sanglah is reporting a daily rate of 60 dog bites, with other satellite general hospitals across the island treating an average of between 25-30 cases a day. Authorities estimate around 85 dog bites are taking place island-wide on a daily basis. Since November 2008, a total of 31,000 dog bite injuries have occurred in Bali with 28,000 people being given anti-rabies serum. The current count estimates that there have been 59 cases of rabies of which 28 have been clinically confirmed as resulting from the disease.
Fearful of a further spread of the disease, disease control authorities have renewed their calls for the elimination of stray dogs in Bali. Dr. Ken Wirasandi of the Sanglah General Hospital, who serves the Secretary of the hospital’s rabies control center, confirms that rabies has now spread to almost every regency and metropolitan center in Bali:
Klungkung which was formerly said to be safe has now seen one patient from that area die at Sanglah hospital. The one area still free from rabies is the regency of Jembrana.
Rabies treatment must be commenced as quickly as possible after suffering a possibly contagious bite. Unfortunately, once clinical symptoms of rabies appear in a patient there is little that can be done medically to save the victim’s life. There is also a growing problem securing a sufficient supply of anti-rabies serum to dog-bite victims. balidiscovery.com
47 Comments on “Bali Rabies Epidemic”
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Purba Negoro says:
Just send the Chinese, Irian and Batak in with a sack and a club.
Charge them 20,000 per bagged dog.
The State would make a fortune. -
Cargam says:
Knowing how deadly the Rabies virus is, it is annoying to see how slow the reaction of the government is. This naive and slow reaction by government and citizens have resulted in more then 40 funerals already.. Beside the fatalities, it also gives Bali a ‘bad’ name in other countries and will maybe even prevent people from visiting our beautiful island.
As the main problem is the stray dogs and not the virus in the first place, one should understand to tackle this dilemma at the basis; remove the dogs from the streets.
Vaccination of all the dogs, as earlier mentioned, will not solve the problem of so many dogs in the streets, which also cause accidents! I am scared to walk around with my little son in the evening in the village because of these loose nasty dogs. “Leash your dog or lose your dog” should be a message from the government on television, radio and leaflets.. 2 weeks time to get your dog of the street or it will be permanently removed for your!! -
Pierre says:
Many on this forum profess the need to eliminate Balinese dogs by culling in order to stop the rabies epidemic. Unfortunately, they do not seem to understand the mathematics involved.
There is an estimated 300,000 dogs on the island of Bali. After two years, around 30,000 have been culled in an effort to stop rabies. Now the governor of Bali has ordered 10,000 to be culled each month. If dogs did not reproduce, it would take another 27 months to kill all the dogs on the island.
The problem is that dogs reproduce very quickly. While in the wild, dogs must compete for food and the law of the fittest rules. Stray dogs have a short lifespan, around 2-3 years. When newborns have to compete with older dogs, they often lose and die. This is why the population peaks at around 300,000 and doesn’t keep growing.
By culling dogs, the governor is simply diminishing the competition making it easier for puppies to live, and it doesn’t take long for the population to rebuild itself.
I used to live on Sedap Malam in Denpasar where there were many dogs 2 years ago. After a few months of dog snatching by the Dog Warungs (they kill dogs with poison, tie them in back of the motorbike for a short ride, then finish them off with a stone beating to the head) only a few dogs were left. A year later, the population is pretty much back where it used to be. Only the dogs are younger and faster.
It is very similar to a lice infestation. Good luck on killling them one by one, they will always reproduce faster and come back. Your only chance is a wipe out in one go with some kind of pesticide.
Essentially, culling is a complete waste of time, since it is practically impossible to eliminate a dog population this way. Yes, no dogs mean no rabies, but that won’t be achieved by culling.
As many have stated to the governor, mass vaccination and sterilizing dogs is the best proven way to stop rabies.
For the dog eaters, I can’t complain since I do eat chickens, etc… What bothers me in Bali is that Dog Warungs steal their dogs, instead of buying them like Chicken Warungs do. Their methods of killing are also very barbaric.
It’s also important to realize that dogs killed by poison, or dogs with rabies are not a healthy meal. Many Balinese have become sick with cyanide poisoning in these Warungs and some have even died.
Rabies in Bali will start being solved when people care about Balinese dogs and their health.
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@Cargam – “…remove the dogs from the streets…. 2 weeks time to get your dog of the street or it will be permanently removed for your!!”
Theoretically, a true argument. No dogs, no rabies.
In practice however, how do you plan on removing 300,000 dogs from the streets at once? Remember, only a few a day won’t help. And how would you enforce you law of 2 weeks time?… There are so many dogs here you would need an army bigger than the population of Bali to be able to follow through on that law! Remember, you must catch the dog in a safe way, kill it, then dispose of its corpse in a safe way to eliminate the possibility of rabies being spread. You must drive to the whereabouts of the dog and catch it before proceeding with the prior steps. The dog also as to be reported. It’s fantasy land.
The main problem in Bali is that the government still has this similar mind set based on a theory that simply cannot be put into practice.
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ET says:
There is an estimated 300,000 dogs on the island of Bali.
In practice however, how do you plan on removing 300,000 dogs from the streets at once
This boils down to saying that all of these 300,000 dogs are roaming the streets. This is nonsense but even so it should be stopped immediately. Nobody wants all dogs in Bali to be culled. All dogs should be vaccinated and kept off the streets or walked on a leash. Only stray dogs should be culled because they pose health and safety problems.
People who don’t care about the safety of others and refuse to be disciplined as well as those with mixed-up priorities should be taught a lesson. -
steve says:
I first went to Bali in 2002 and loved the place but stopped going there in 2004 due to the large number of agressive stray dogs. It seemed you couldnt walk anywhere without coming across these dogs. The Balinese authorities should have culled these strays along time ago. People who want pet dogs should be required to be responsible for them and register them. All registered dogs should be tagged and if they bite people there should be a fine on the owner and compensation for the victim. This would soon make the Balinese wake up to their responsibilities when it comes to dog ownership and would boost the appeal of the island as a tourist destination. After all, alot of Bali’s income is from tourism or tourist driven industry.
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@ET – I recently had a meeting with Janice, the leader of BAWA in Bali, and it seems it’s more like 500,000 dogs in Bali. Of course, this is an estimate. Personally, I’m convinced that the large majority of these dogs are not owned by anybody. It’s a complicated issue.
A new law has been put in place to render dog owners responsible. I’m in Canada right now so I can’t give you the exact law number (pasal), but it boils down to: The owner must have a collar on his dog, and keep on a leash or in a yard, and the dog must be vaccinated for rabies. If an owned dog bites someone, the owner is responsible for paying for all hospital fees, and funeral fees if the person dies. If the owner cannot pay, he spends a maximum of 6 months in jail.
I agree that roaming dogs are not a good thing and that a situation like Canada where dogs must be registered would be much better. However, there are cultural issues that we must remember and respect. Balinese believe in reincarnation and that being reincarnated is a punishment for having sinned. Because a dog is a person who has already been punished, Balinese do not believe in harming them so they let them roam free. They also usually don’t take care of them because this would interfere with this punishment. Of course, not all Balinese follow this way of thinking and some do they good care of their dogs.
I can’t say I had many problems with dogs in Bali. I have been living there for four years. But, I do understand the problem of stray dogs and how they can scare tourists. I just don’t believe that culling is aiding at all. The rabies situation has just been getting worst, and it only seems to have improved in the region of Ganyar where BAWA is vaccinating dogs instead of killing them.
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@ Pierre
A new law has been put in place to render dog owners responsible. I’m in Canada right now so I can’t give you the exact law number (pasal), but it boils down to: The owner must have a collar on his dog, and keep on a leash or in a yard, and the dog must be vaccinated for rabies. If an owned dog bites someone, the owner is responsible for paying for all hospital fees, and funeral fees if the person dies. If the owner cannot pay, he spends a maximum of 6 months in jail.
This is the way it should be. However there is the law and there is application of the law, which in Indonesia still is an entirely different thing.
Balinese believe in reincarnation and that being reincarnated is a punishment for having sinned. Because a dog is a person who has already been punished, Balinese do not believe in harming them so they let them roam free. They also usually don’t take care of them because this would interfere with this punishment.
Sorry, but this is nonsense. According to their believes they can reincarnate into anything according to one’s karma, also into pigs, chickens, snakes, even insects. No one bothers to kill a chicken or a pig, let alone a snake or an insect. Why should dogs make an exception?
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dlwn says:
Well done Pierre, I completely agree with you. Do people go into people’s houses and tell them what to do? No. I despise westerners who come here, thinking they are local and just demand change. Stray dogs have always been in the culture of the people in Bali, how could you just come in and tell them other wise. Albeit, they are a bit of a problem. There are a few ways to eliminate stray dogs and rabies; decrease the amount of rubbish and trash lying around so that competition is high and the ones that cannot survive die out. Killing the dogs will (as Pierre mentioned) decrease the number momentarily, also killing the vaccinated dogs, which do act as a barrier to rabies, because the rabid dog will die out.
Spay and neuter the dogs. BAWA currently does free spay and neuter to try and keep the population down, for people who cannot afford it. However, they are a charity and do not have enough funds to do so unless people help.
Education! That is the most important one. Demanding that people change their behavior, just like that, is ridiculous!!! The government, or organisations need to implement, how to care for your dog to young kids so that when they grow up, they will take care of their dogs and the stray dogs decreased. Because people now know how to look after their dog properly.
Vaccination, vaccination, vaccination!
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I despise westerners who come here, thinking they are local and just demand change. Stray dogs have always been in the culture of the people in Bali, how could you just come in and tell them other wise.
Nice culture. The number of of people bitten by stray dogs from January to June this year climbed to 3,500 from the 2,400 cases recorded in the same period last year. Every day 16 people on average are bitten by dogs, said the head of the Bali Health Office. 76 people have been left dead by the epidemic.
Education! That is the most important one. Demanding that people change their behavior, just like that, is ridiculous!!!
Westerners and other tourists make for the larger part of the income of your island, don’t they? If you think they will wait till your kids are grown up and educated, you may be in for a surprise.
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@ET: Education is not just for tourists. It’s for people right now. It’s important because someone that knows what to do when he gets bitten has a better chance of survival. Out of the 76 deaths you mentioned, many of them could have been avoided had the victims and the doctors been aware of the proper procedure to follow.
As for the higher number of people bitten this year, this is a recorded statistic coming from health centres and clinics. Do you think it rose by magic? Are there suddenly more dogs on Bali now then before, even though an order to cull 10,000 dogs per month has been in place for awhile. The reason for the higher number is simple. People are getting more aware of rabies through education, and so they are taking less chances and are more eager to get themselves checked at the hospital.
I don’t believe it’s a case of more dogs bites, as much as a case of more people showing up at hospitals to properly take care of their wounds. You shouldn’t be so quick to disregard the power of education.
We all agree that there are too many stray dogs in Bali. This diminishes the quality of life for Balinese, tourists, and the dogs themselves since there are more diseases and competition in the streets.
I simply can’t agree that culling is the answer since it has been in effect for two years and we can’t really see any results. It’s not about being nice with dogs, it’s about finding a solution that works.
WHO has demonstrated that vaccination is the key. Combine that with neutering and spaying and we are going somewhere.
What is your solution ET? Keep culling and hope the results will somehow start showing?
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@ pierre
I don’t believe it’s a case of more dogs bites, as much as a case of more people showing up at hospitals to properly take care of their wounds. You shouldn’t be so quick to disregard the power of education.
The ‘education’ I meant is the kind of education aimed at discipline and taking responsibility for your environment, which includes taking care of your pets and not letting them go astray full of fleas and diseases, chasing cyclists and pedestrians and keeping the whole neighborhood awake at night.
And what’s the use of showing up at hospitals as several of them have reportedly run low on rabies shots. Klungkung hospital director Ni Made Adi Swapatni said they came short on the vaccine 4 months ago. “We have sent a proposal asking for more vaccines but we still haven’t gotten them until now” she said.What is your solution ET? Keep culling and hope the results will somehow start showing?
Vaccination is the key. Fix an amount of time during which all dog owners have to have their dogs vaccinated and launch a sosialisasi program to prevent people from letting their dogs roam the streets without escort. After that cull all the remaining stray dogs as this is the most humane solution, also for the abandoned and neglected animals themselves.
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Of course, the problem is quite complex. At least people do show up at the hospital more often, but you are quite right in saying the hospitals aren’t always equipped properly. Hopefully that will change.
On another note, I adopted two dogs from the street in Denpasar, have given them all the required shots, and keep them inside my yard. Now I will have to move back to Canada, and since the Balinese government doesn’t allow the export of dogs because of the rabies epidemic and I can’t find anyone to take care of them (already asked around at BAWA and posted ads), I will have to leave them to roam again. This is quite ironic as I was trying to help the situation in Bali, but the government laws are stopping me from doing that. I can’t put them down since I love them and wouldn’t have the heart to do it.
I talked to the head of the Dinas Peternakan and he said it was an international law that stipulated you can’t export dogs from a rabies zone. Of course, there are other provinces in Indonesia with rabies who don’t have that same law, and in Canada you can import dogs from a rabies zone if you follow the proper protocols. In fact, there is no such international law. I checked it out.
I kind of gave up on the rabies thing in Bali because of nonsense like this from the government. Did you know that BAWA offered to provide the necessary funds to do an island wide vaccination program with the promise that cullings would stop. The government refused. They got a lot cash coming from Jakarta for this and accepting international funding instead would unfortunately oblige them to print out some accounting numbers, and that can cause problems.
The way things look, the cullings will last for awhile since it’s cheaper than vaccinations, and it doesn’t really make much of a difference for population control.
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p b says:
This is very common in Pacific Island nations – I was on Palau last year and you couldn’t walk anywhere without being confronted by some snarling stray dogs. It really takes the edge off an otherwise pleasant stay.
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Now I will have to move back to Canada, and since the Balinese government doesn’t allow the export of dogs because of the rabies epidemic and I can’t find anyone to take care of them (already asked around at BAWA and posted ads), I will have to leave them to roam again.
At the end of the day they are dogs and if no one wants to be responsible for them then you cull them, cleanly and without cruelty.
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Ricky says:
The tourist in Bali are to blame AS Well … They see the and Entourage the dogs by feeding them .. Just at Coffee corner a dog wonders in an the Australian tourist start feeding it … Ask them not to feed it …. The tourist told me to F— off … Bet if the dog bite him he!D be the first to cry … Unbelivalbe … Bali should look @ banning stupid Australian tourist AS they not respect Bali or it people .. Half not Know Bali us part of Indonesia …
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I dont eat dog’s meat because they are cute and the meat has no benefit for my health.
I dont hate animals. I kill any animals that attack me and doesn’t give benefit to the earth as earthlings. For example sharks, huge rats thats bigger than cat, cats too all they do is gangbanging, wild dogs with rabies? kill. Also mosquitoes, flies, n cockroach.
isnt it inhuman? nope.
No one cares for them anyways. They cant live properly only eat unknown things out of the trash. Either they gotta live wildly somewhere they can be self-sufficient and be predators or be human pet.
1) keep the dog population under control. Kill them or fixed their genitals (which i think is more inhuman than killing them).
2) long-term control: vaccination, animal policies, get the animal off the street. Find those irresponsible owner and fine them.
Its inhuman if u torture them. U gonna get killed eventually if u try to protect dangerous animal. I was attacked by a wild dog once back in Indo and I have no phobia or hate for it. Matter of facts now I love dogs. They are smart and easier to train. I dont have one because i have better things to take care off.