Domestic Animal Program
Balikpapan has thousands of stray animals roaming the streets. Not only do the animals usually live in deplorable, unacceptable conditions but this also presents a threat to our sensitive tropical ecosystem. At present there are no shelters or organizations working to resolve this problem in Kalimantan. In 2005 (when KWPLH began on site work), we discovered that members of the public frequently dumped kittens at the facility grounds. As of July 2009 our domestic animal population has reached 110 animals.
The Domestic Animal Program aims to:
- Educate visitors about caring for pets (currently cats and dogs);
- Promote the sterilization of companion animals;
- Educate about and illustrate the differences between domestic species and wild animals and thus discourage the keeping of wildlife as pets.
The animals abandoned at KWPLH are usually kittens and puppies, individuals far too young to survive independently. Turning our backs to these young animals would be equivalent to letting them slowly starve to death – a fate we consider unacceptable. Visiting vets have spayed and neutered all of our domestic animals (that are of age), all receive vaccines and regular treatment for parasites and other health issues. We are now trying to find new caring homes for some of these animals.
A large multi-leveled cat enclosure with several informative signs nearby has been built to launch our education efforts and has created a lot of interest from visitors. We hope that the good condition of our cats and dogs will speak for the validity of our claims as to how animals should be treated for optimal health and attractiveness.
We are currently promoting a government run spay/neuter program for stray animals and interest has been shown, hopefully, in the future the unwanted animal problem will be tackled on a larger scale.
