Bali - the Paradise Lost of 2014

I originally posted this on my Facebook page, but I also want to share it here:

I am now thinking twice about Bali about a paradise to visit or even to retire to as many Americans are now doing. Bali has a population of about 5,000 Americans living there full time.

On Sunday I went to the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena for a presentation about life in Bali. I was shocked to find out that in this so-called paradise dogs are hated and routinely killed by the locals. Sometimes they are killed for food and there are "dog food carts" on the streets, and sometimes the locals kill them because of the fear that they carry the souls of criminals.

In the lecture we were told that locals routinely eat dog, so during the Q&A I asked if there were "dog farms" or were dogs raised for slaughter? No -- the lecturer informed us. People would roam the streets and club dogs to death and take them to their homes to be prepared for a meal. No stray dog is safe. Even pet dogs can be stolen from homes to be eaten.

Adding to the slaughter of stray dogs was the recent introduction of rabies to Bali. Even pet dogs are not safe from poisoning by locals out of fear they carry rabies.

But I asked the lecutrer following the presentation (at her book signing -- yes she has a book about food in Bali) isn't there a danger that the locals who club stray dogs will be dining on dogs infected with rabies? And to that she answered "yes."

By the way, the author/lecturer herself owns two dogs and will not return to Bali until her own dogs die a natural death here in the USA. She told me she can't risk that her own pets would be killed by the locals if she returned to Bali where she lived for many years.

Bali -- the Paradise Lost of 2014,