Not for Profit
Founded in 2007 by Janice Girardi, BAWA works every day to relieve the suffering and save the lives of animals. BAWA is a non-profit organisation registered in Indonesia to work for better animal welfare. BAWA runs the following programmes:
24/7 Hotline and Ambulance
The BAWA Hotline receives around 60 calls every day and Bali’s only free animal ambulance service rescues and treats more than 1,000 animals in distress every year. It is our first response to emergencies in the fight against animal suffering in Bali. Often these animals have broken bones, life-threatening viruses or other illnesses that require long stays in vet clinics. The Balinese may love their animal but often cannot afford the treatment, so we always need donations to pay for these services.
Emergency Response and Rescue
BAWA responds to alerts of any animal in distress, from dogs and cats to civet cats, to monkeys, birds and others. Frequently these alerts relate to animals trapped in culverts or wells, kept in inhumane conditions in small cages, or dog fighting, the dog meat trade, and other forms of cruelty and neglect. BAWA works investigating cases of cruelty and neglect, rescuing animals where possible, educating and working with owners to ultimately end the suffering.
Rehabilitation & Adoption Services
Once we have rescued, treated and helped an animal to recover, our challenge is to find and settle the animal into a permanent home. We currently have hundreds of animals under our care, all waiting for their forever home. We also run a robust foster program which helps socialize the animals and get them ready for their future homes.
Humane Population Control
In Bali many unwanted animals are poisoned, shot, abused, left without food and water or are dumped and left to die. BAWA offers free spay/neuter services to achieve levels at which all dogs and cats can be adequately fed and cared for, free from suffering. All sterilised animals are vaccinated and treated against disease. Importantly, this process increases the population of immunised animals and reduces the prevalence of disease such as rabies. BAWA runs two full-time sterilization programs which include rabies vaccinations in partnership with the Government and medical treatment.
Education
We believe that the only way to end cruelty and change the future is through education. BAWA’s team of teachers reached over 100,000 elementary school children in 2018-19, helping them to learn kindness and compassion for animals and how to be safe in the midst of Bali’s rabies epidemic. We also work with families and community leaders to slowly bring about a long term change in attitudes towards animals and animal welfare.
Advocacy
BAWA works with lawyers and lawmakers to improve laws and change attitudes towards animal welfare step by step. We were recently able to help Sanur Kaja village establish the first ever village regulation (Perdes) in Indonesia that bans dog cruelty, including poisoning, dumping of puppies and the dog meat trade. We now hope to use this Perdes as a model for other villages in Bali.
Disaster Relief
Our teams are on the ground, providing emergency medical treatment and food for animals in the aftermath of earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. BAWA is currently still working in the areas surrounding Mount Agung volcano, where we continue to travel to the most remote areas, medicating and feeding between 200 to 250 dogs and cats daily, in communities where the owners are still not in a position to care for their animals or the animals have no one to care for them.