In Bali, where hotels are aplenty and so are street dogs, the local government is hoping hotels can play a role in keeping the island’s stray dog population under control.
The Bali Province Department of Animal Husbandry is invoking corporate social responsibility and “inviting” hotels, whether five-star or boutique, to pitch in and sterilize some dogs.
“For instance, the hotels we’ve asked to participate, we’ve requested they just (sterilize) two to three animals,” the department’s head, I Putu Sumantra said in Denpasar on Wednesday, as quoted by Tribun Bali.
But Sumantra’s vision is that the bigger hotels can take care of even more animals.
“Later, we will coordinate with the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) or such a hotel group to contribute. If each big hotel can sterilize, say 50 dogs, we will definitely have an impact on suppressing the stray dog population in Bali,” Sumantra explained.
Widespread rabies among the island’s strays is a problem that Bali would sure like to be rid of.
The Bali government ran a mass-vaccination program last year, targeting some 465,000 dogs for administration of the anti-rabies vaccine.
This year, Bali Province’s budget for vaccinations is Rp 4 billion.
But Sumantra’s concern is that vaccination is ineffective for dogs already infected and something else needs to be done to control the population size.
While it’s encouraging to see the government prioritizing sterilization and vaccination as a population control strategy, elimination is unfortunately not off the table in Bali. The island is infamous for dog culling.
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