Bali’s dog whisperer

In Australia, dogs are regarded as loyal companions. But in Bali, they are an ineradicable part of Hindu culture, spiritual guardians, protectors of homes and temples, often roaming freely while being cared for by the community. The island even has an indigenous canine breed — the Bali Dog — which features in Hindu mythology and ceremonies.

But often enough, dogs fall through the cracks of the social welfare system, particularly in urbanised areas. Fighting for scraps of food, riddled with skin diseases and ticks, stuck out in the rain during storms, these dogs lead miserable lives.

There are a handful of nonprofits, some run by Aussie expats, that work tirelessly to rescue street dogs in Bali using funds raised on social media. Then there are smaller players, families and individuals who do the same thing but on a smaller scale and who pay for costs — food, vaccines, veterinary care etc— out of their own pockets.

Johanes Handojo is one such person. The 51-year-old moved to Bali from the main island of Java more than a decade ago looking for work and in search of a better life. He found it and now works as a project manager in Bali’s booming construction industry. But he also had his heart broken many times by the state of the street dogs in Bali, and has committed his life to helping them.

At his modest two-bedroom home near the island’s capital, Denpasar, Johanes lives with Erna, his partner, and 13 dogs he rescued from the street. Erna doesn’t mind; she too rescues animals: kittens and baby squirrels. Johanes also rents a second home nearby where he feeds and houses another 20 rescued dogs. He also feeds another six street dogs on his street.

“More than half of my income goes to dogs, especially when they need treatment from vets. Sometimes we get kittens, puppies or baby squirrels that are sick and the vet fees are quite high in Bali,” he says.

“Why do I do it? Because I can’t just walk away, I cannot. When I see dogs suffering, it means something to me. Sometimes I get frustrated, because my heart is tired, not my body, my heart is exhausted. I want to stop but when I tell myself I’m going to stop, I find another animal suffering, a bundle of puppies or kittens. Then I have even more mouths to feed.”

Among Johanes’ pack is Gizmo, a blind, fragile small mixed-breed dog that requires special care. “She belonged to an old Australian woman who lived in Bali for 50 years,” Johanes says. “But then her husband passed away and she had a stroke and had to go back to Australia. She had four dogs. We managed to find homes for three of them but no one wanted Gizmo. That’s the problem with foreigners adopting dogs in Bali. They want to help so they adopt a dog. But then they go home. That is why when I look for homes to adopt dogs, I prefer Balinese.”

Johanes knows that while it is important, his work and that of other dog whisperers in Bali is but a drop in the well in the campaign to alleviate the suffering of some dogs in Bali. There is however a solution.

“The solution is mass sterilisation because every female dog on the street will have a litter of five or six puppies, every six months,” he says. “That’s 10 new dogs every year that will be living on the street, so you can see how the problem just gets bigger and bigger.”

Last year, Johanes organised a series of sterilisation drives in which he and a small group of friends visited different areas in Bali to sterilise dogs, operating on about 10 to 15 in a day. “But this year we had to stop because of money,” he says. “Vet fees have gone up a lot in Bali. It now costs $45 to sterilise one dog, male or female, and that’s after the discount they give us.

If you want to help Johanes rescue, house, feed and sterilise dogs in Bali, you can make a donation to his Paypal account. First email juddyhandojo9@gmail.com.