Furry Friends

I've been having an immense compassion for furry animal friends as of late. It all started when I caught a documentary 'Good Morning Kalimantan' on a Garuda flight from Bali back to Singapore. The documentary features Chanee, French zoo-keeper who left his country to help in the conservation of Gibbons and other primate animals in the island of Kalimantan, Bornero, Indonesia. From then on, this stayed at the back of my mind.

Until recently, I'm evoked of compassion for our furry friends with the movie 'Planet of the Apes'. It may be a Hollywood movie, with all the specil effects and what maybe, yet you cannot help but feel the strong connection between a primate and the human. The earlier wouild very likely be the closest animal you get to a human being. This reminded me of Chanee and I've been paying close attention to his blog and the Kalaweit program. For 20 years, he's been fighting for the conservation efforts of all animals and mainly gibbons on Kalimantan, through a radio channel. What an ingenious idea!

Today, I chanced upon another Non-profit organization as reported in Jakarta Globe: Bali Adoption & Rehabilitation Centre (BARC) for dogs aka I Love Bali Dogs. This is set up by Linda Buller, an Australian artist living in Bali who is fighting for the animal rights of furry friends in Bali. Often, these furry friends are stolen for sale, traded as dog FOOD, killed as ceremonial sacrifice, dumped in rubbish dump, run over by vehicles. I remember seeing so many stray dogs in Bali, fighting with other dogs to guard their territory, or just roaming the streets looking for food. There was a white mutt sitting at our dining table, he/she was wheezing throughout, and he/she looked like he/she had a bad front hind leg. It was painful to see the sadness in his/her eyes. BARC offers sponsorship and virtual adoption programs for anyone willing to help these furry friends from Bali.

Having said all this, if you are reading this post, please do check out the attached organizations and websites. Help with a donation, purchase an item, spread the word, LIKE them on facebook or simply send words of encouragement to the relentless volunteer workers who are fighting the daily battles for what they believe in.

Last but not least, just to share with you one of my favorite videos from Kalaweit/Chanee:


The orangutan rescue / Le sauvetage de... by kalaweitprogram