Comments on: Calling for a Cull

By: Lorenzo Degori

Lorenzo Degori — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 04:22:57 +0000

Interesting…and I agree with all of it. Keep up the great work…I will undoubtedly be back soon

By: suzanne

suzanne — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:06:19 +0000

If the dog population is out of control they should be culled. Aside from rabies, in which both the animals and people suffer if the disease is contracted, what is the impact on other native flora and fauna in bali? Any animal population that gets out of control is a danger to the ecosystem. Here in Australia cats and dogs have taken terrible toll on teh local wildlife and I should imagine the same is true for Indonesia which cannnot afford to have this happen. The ecosystem there is fragile enough.
So the people from BAWA should get real. Sure continue the vaccination program, but also see sense in that some culling is necessary in this instance. And any amount of “eat love pray” philosophy will not change that.

By: elizabeth

elizabeth — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 04:22:34 +0000

Why do people listen to the sensation mongers, those with an agenda and not to the voice of reason, that of the experts. Whilst BAWA is vaccinating perhaps the government would be smarter working with them to sterilise.. However, it is common knowledge that the BAWA vets are the most experienced at this job than any others on the island & that is not my opinion but that of the VETS without Borders.

By: Merritt Clifton

Merritt Clifton — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 17:23:16 +0000

It is absolute nonsense to continue to squander resources on trying to cull dogs when equivalent effort and expenditure put into vaccinating all dogs against rabies, could eliminate the disease entirely from Bali by November; culling has never eliminated canine rabies from anywhere, and never will, because it does not effectively attack the disease vector.

Mass vaccination of dogs, beginning at first recognition of the outbreak, costing a fraction of what culling already has, could have eradicated rabies from Bali by March 2009, and could have eliminated all need for costly, unevenly administered, and often ineffective post-exposure treatment.

The Bali authorities knew what was necessary to do by December 1, 2008. I personally had forwarded to their attention the recommendations of the World Health Organization, Alliance for Rabies Control, U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Animal Welfare Board of India, National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, National Animal Control Association, and World Society for the Protection of Animals — all of which have successfully eradicated canine rabies from places much larger & with many more dogs than Bali by pursuing a focused vaccination strategy, using good quality three-year vaccines. Among these places have been the entire nations of the U.S., Brazil, Argentina, and Uroguay, all of which have more dogs per capita than Bali, and all of the nations of western Europe.

I also personally interested many of the leading rabies experts in the world in the Bali situation, quite a few of whom have offered Bali their recommendations and help without charge, even visiting Bali at their own expense to meet with the various officials.

Unfortunately, thus far their unanimous recommendations have been ignored. And the number of human rabies deaths continues to double every six months — exactly as we all predicted it would, 18 months ago, if a culling strategy was pursued instead of saturation vaccination.

Vaccinating 70% of the dogs will stop rabies on Bali. Culling 70% of the dogs will only catch up to normal dog & puppy mortality over a year’s time, and will only ensure that today’s population of dogs, some of them vaccinated, will be replaced by a new generation of unvaccinated puppies.

By: danny

danny — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 07:21:59 +0000

I came to bali for a holiday last year.

The wild dogs in Ubud were terrible.

I will never return to Bali due to the dogs. They are dangerous, out of control and ruined my holiday.

Get rid of them or lose the tourists!