Animal Rescue
Indonesia is home to a rich variety of animals both in the water and on land. Our team in Bali is engaged in efforts to help these animals, as well as local pets.
Animal Rescue by the Numbers
In 2021, we helped rescue and care for:
- 8 elephants (from an elephant riding facility in Bali that went bankrupt)
- 3 sun bears (from an elephant riding facility in Bali that went bankrupt)
- 7 long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis)
- 1 sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster)
- 1 critically endangered hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)
In 2022:
- Rescued 15 monkeys who were kept chained in cages, or escaped from previous owners who kept them as pets
- Rescued and treated 1 javan deer (Rusa timorensis) who was attacked by wild dogs
- Rescued and relocated 9 snakes who needed to be evacuated from people’s homes
- Rescued and treated 3 endangered green sea turtles
- Rescued and treated 5 Brazilian red-cheeked mud turtles, a species not native to Indonesia (Kinosternon scorpioodes cruentatum)
In 2023:
- Rescued and treated 43 endangered green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) and established a dedicated Turtle Hospital at the Umah Lumba Center
No-Cost Vet Clinic
Dolphin Project operates a no-cost veterinary clinic in Bali. We provide no-cost spay, neutering and emergency veterinary care for pets of local residents.
- 2021: 69 dogs sterilized
- 2022: 151 dogs sterilized
Support wildlife rescue efforts with a symbolic adoption! Your adoption will help support veterinary care, field costs for animal rescue and release, and ongoing maintenance of the Umah Lumba Center.
Education Center
In the village next to the Umah Lumba Rehabilitation, Release and Retirement Center is a place where kids learn, and have fun doing so! The Umah Lumba Education Center is a free school, but effective in its engaging methods of teaching. The children have much fun learning, while gaining an appreciation for their natural world. We have 44 regular students in our school, and 25 visiting students from outside the village.
Tree Planting
In efforts to be 100% carbon neutral and to help protect the coastline and marine ecosystem in West Bali, to-date our Dolphin Project team in Indonesia has planted over 20,000 mangrove seedlings and coconut trees.
- 2020: 5,000 trees planted
- 2021: 6,200 trees planted
- 2022: 10,000 trees planted
Standing Response
The local Dolphin project team is part of a quick response cetacean stranding team for bottlenose dolphins, spinner dolphins, pilot whales, Bryde’s whales and more. Stranding response cases include:
- In September 2020, we helped respond to a call to help a wild Irrawaddy dolphin that was lost inside a river in the Sumatra area. When we heard the news our field coordinator immediately went to the location to coordinate a rescue operation with local authorities and NGO Cinta Satwa Riau. After evaluation and medical examinations, the joint team relocated and released her in nearby deeper waters.
- In February 2021 we received news that a mass stranding of pilot whales had taken place far east of Java island, on the northeastern Indonesian island of Madura. Our team worked hard alongside local authorities on site.
- In April 2021 we assisted in the successful relocation and release of a stranded Risso’s dolphin. Thank you to JAAN, #BKSDABali, PSDKP, BPSPL DPS, NCF, Flying Vet Citizens of Tembles, and Pejarakan Nature Community!
Our team also periodically holds marine mammal stranding workshops. Participants include government officials, and we help teach the safe handling of marine mammals during stranding events.
Your support is a vital part of these campaigns, as well as our work to put an end to dolphin slaughter and captive exploitation worldwide. Become a Dolphin Defender by supporting our work today!
