A graphic has been circulating claiming that feeding or rescuing Bali’s street dogs could get you “processed by law.” We looked at what Indonesian law actually says. The short version: there is no feeding street dogs Bali law, and the statutes that do exist are written to protect these dogs, not to punish the people who care for them. Here is the full picture, with the articles named, and where you can help.
A message has been making the rounds on social media in Bali. It carries the face of a former politician and the warning that feeding or caring for street dogs will be “processed by law,” that activists will be reported, and that foreigners could be deported. It is designed to frighten the very people who keep these animals alive. So let us be calm and precise about it, because fear travels faster than fact, and the fact is reassuring.
Now the real question, the one worth asking out loud: under which article, exactly, would a person who feeds or rescues a street dog be breaking the law? The answer is that there is none. No provision in the Indonesian criminal code, and no provision in the animal husbandry and health laws, makes feeding, sheltering, sterilizing, or rescuing a stray dog an offence. The page is blank because the law is silent. There is nothing there to enforce.
What the law does say points in the opposite direction. Under the new Criminal Code that came into force this year, the articles on animals sit under the heading of cruelty and neglect, and they punish the person who hurts, injures, or kills an animal without lawful reason. Older and still relevant, the Animal Husbandry and Health Law requires that animals be kept free from pain, fear, and distress, and it expressly names the community, alongside the central and regional governments, as sharing the responsibility for animal welfare. Read that again. The law names ordinary citizens as part of the solution. A rescuer is not standing against the state’s goals. A rescuer is doing precisely what the statute asks of her.
Start with authority. A recommendation from a member, or former member, of the DPD is not a law. The DPD’s constitutional role is to offer considerations and recommendations. It cannot create criminal offences. Only laws passed through the proper legislative process can do that. And the individual pictured in that graphic was permanently removed from the DPD back in 2024, a status confirmed by constitutional law experts at the time. A recommendation to a ministry criminalizes nothing. It never could.
There is also the matter of rabies, which is the reason usually given for these threats. The recognized path to a rabies-free Bali runs through vaccination and sterilization, which is exactly the work donor-funded programs like AbyssPaws carry out. Indiscriminate culling is not only cruel, it is the approach that risks colliding with the cruelty provisions of the very same Criminal Code. Compassion and public health are not in tension here. They are the same road.
So if anyone ever arrives with the claim that caring for these dogs is illegal, the reply is simple and can be given without raising your voice. Name the article. There isn’t one. Meanwhile, the people who love these animals are on the side the law was written to protect.
We will keep feeding them. We will keep healing them. And we will keep doing it in the open, with full transparency, because we have nothing to hide and every reason to be proud.
If this moved you, you can turn it into medicine and sterilizations. AbyssPaws now has a verified fundraising page for the sterilization and medical care of street dogs in the remote corners of Bali. Every contribution goes toward the vaccinations and spaying that actually make Bali safer, for the dogs and for people. You can donate, and share the link, here: kitabisa.com/campaign/abysspaws
Please note: the Kitabisa fundraising link is only active for a limited period, in line with the platform’s own campaign rules. If the link has closed by the time you reach it, you can find our current donation channels and everything else on our main hub at linktr.ee/bernadedcraill.
More about the sterilisation and medication rounds at AbyssPaws.
SOURCES:
Detik: Ahli Hukum Unud — Status Arya Wedakarna Mantan Anggota DPD — confirming the removal from the DPD stands
Hukumonline: Penyiksaan Terhadap Hewan, Adakah Hukumnya? — on Pasal 302 KUHP lama and Pasal 337 UU 1/2023, plus Pasal 66A UU 41/2014
Inspirensis: Pasal Pidana Hewan dalam KUHP Baru (UU No. 1 Tahun 2023) — on the new Criminal Code articles 336 to 338
IJRS: Apakah Menyiksa Hewan Bisa Kena Hukuman Pidana? — overview of animal protection law and the five freedoms under PP 95/2012
🐾 Help make this real. AbyssPaws funds sterilisation and rabies vaccination for street and community dogs across Bali, dog by dog, with full transparency. If this article moved you, the best thing you can do is share it. And if you’re able to give, every rupiah goes straight to dogs no one else is paying for. → See how to support AbyssPaws
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