Interview With Bu Ismawanty of Shelter Melati Part 1

Last December, I visited Shelter Melati, an animal shelter founded by Ismawanty Mima. During that visit, I interviewed Bu Isma. I wanted to hear her story about how she founded the shelter, and how she manages it now. I hope that by writing it in my blog, more people may know about animal shelters and may give them a helping hand.

Shelter Melati has been operating for nine and a half years. It all started when Bu Isma was on the road to the mall with her youngest daughter. She was stuck in a traffic jam, and there was a Shihtzu standing on the side of the road, staring at every vehicle passing by. When Bu Isma passed it, her youngest daughter opened the window and greeted it. The dog followed Bu Isma's car after that, even when the car was running fast. Feeling sorry for it, they opened the car door and the dog immediately jumped inside. It was really drained and fell asleep immediately.

They didn't go to the mall in the end. They just drove around confused about what they should do with the dog. They couldn't bring it home, as Bu Isma's husband didn't want dogs at home, so it ended up in a pet shop. Bu Isma paid for a month's boarding, where it will be fed and groomed routinely.

A month's boarding stretched to 6 months. Bu Isma couldn't just leave the dog in the pet shop its whole life so she decided to bring him home and hid it in their upper floor guestroom. The dog wasn't discovered by Bu Isma's husband for 2 days, as it obeyed Bu Isma's warning not to bark. But the dog couldn't live in a room all alone with no one to accompany him, so on the 3rd day, the secret was out. Bu Isma had just left the room after feeding it, and it barked. Bu Isma's husband happened to be at home on that fateful day.

Her husband was really surprised to hear barking sound inside of his house and immediately searched for the dog. When he opened the door of the room where the dog was hidden, the dog happily went out of the room with its tail wagging. Bu Isma's husband was flabbergasted and ran back downstairs shouting "Dog, dog, there's a dog!" with the Shihtzu on his heels. The dog was smart though, and when Bu Isma's husband shouted "Sit, sit, sit!"; the dog sat down. After much explaining by Bu Isma and her youngest daughter, Bu Isma's husband relented and allowed the Shihtzu to stay if it obeyed the boundaries and rules that he set up. They decided to name that Shihtzu, Cirita. Cirita becomes the family's much beloved pet; it was even loved by Bu Isma's husband in the end.

However, Bu Isma couldn't bear to see dogs in sad conditions and continued to take in stray dogs. They all stayed in her garage, and they kept on adding up to a total of 15 dogs. Until her husband couldn't bear it anymore.

One day, her husband asked her, "Do you pick me or your dogs?" Her answer had to be given at the latest on the following day. If she picked her husband, all the dogs must go; and if she wanted to keep the dogs, her husband will leave. At that time, Bu Isma didn't know anything about animal shelters nor about dog lovers' groups; where she could ask for help. It was a really difficult question.

In the end, Bu Isma chose her dogs over her husband. Based on her logic, her husband could take care and fend for himself, while the dogs can't as they're already depedent on her. Domesticated dogs will definitely be confused if they were left on their own, especially on the street. They would not know how to find food and they might be hit by vehicles. A lot of people in Indonesia still don't tolerate dogs too, so they might be abused or persecuted.

On the day that she gave that answer, her husband just walked away from the house without taking anything with him. However, Bu Isma wasn't too concerned financially because she still have her house, cars, and money in the bank. Her children generally respected her decision and didn't get involved in their parents' matter. However, her eldest daughter did question why she picked her dogs over her husband.

After that tough decision, instead of focusing on her own life; Bu Isma rescued more and more dogs until the number rocketed up to around 120 dogs. At that time she didn't know about donations that people could give her so she paid all the expenses purely with her own money. Since she no longer worked, she didn't have substantial income but the expenses to feed and maintain the well-being of her rescued dogs are great.

Her monetary condition became so bad that once she only had Rp. 10.000,- in her wallet. She had to choose between feeding herself or the dogs. She chose to feed the latter but could only afford to buy them rice, which was not even enough.

Fortunately, she was then discovered by several dog lovers'. They donated dog foods and introduced her to vets who could help her. One of the vets asked her to make an account in social media so she could tell the public, especially dog lovers, about her condition and they might help her. Bu Isma didn't know anything about social media though, let alone make an account on one of them. Eventually, someone helped her make a Facebook account and taught her how to use it.

Then came a problem: her neighbours complained about her many dogs. They felt that their lives were disturbed by the dogs. Some didn't like dogs, some were disturbed by the noises, and some by the smell. Bu Isma was forced to leave the neighbourhood in 3x24 hours. She had nowhere to go. Confused, Bu Isma posted on Facebook about her situation.

Fortunately, a Facebook follower contacted her and lent a 4.000 m2 land in Pondok cabe. The area is generally deserted so no one will be disturbed by the dogs there. However, at first, there was nothing at the land, except for a building and a rambutan farm. Luckily, a lot of animal lovers, especially dog lovers, helped with the shelter's establishment. One of them was the famous writer Alberthiene Endah.

No one in her family supported her though, except her mom and daughters.

It was June 2017, when someone reported about her relative's Husky who wasn't cared for. In the photos that the person sent, the Husky did looked uncared for, but his life wasn't in danger. Bu Isma decided not to rescue him, as she already had a lot on her hands. In addition to that, something happened that distracted her completely from that Husky.

On July 2017, the shelter caught fire. It happened at 00:30 a.m. The shelter was using a large amount of electricity power and they were unaware that the cable in the main house was actually outdated. The cable wasn't strong enough to withhold the immense power of the electricity and had a short circuit. It burst into flames.

It was past midnight and the shelter was far from other residents, so it was hard for them to find people to help them. Coincidently, a taxi was driving past the shelter,and they asked him for help. He immediately called the police and firefighters. He went in and somehow he managed to take the generator out, which was very heavy. The fire might have been uncontrollable if it wasn't taken out.

Bu Isma was sleeping at her daughter's house when she was notified of her shelter's fire. She immediately went there with a motorbike, and when she reached the shelter, the police was already there. She desperately and hysterically tried to get inside, wanting to save the dogs; but the police detained her from getting in. There were some kennel boys who were brave enough to go in and get the dogs out.

There were dogs that were just neutered/spayed inside the house, house cages around the main building with lots and lots of dogs, and 6 individual cages around the house cages. The kennel boys were confused about how to open the cages and lead all of them out to safety. There were some dogs that panicked so that instead of going out, they went in. A total of 26 dogs died. it was a great loss, and was a very hard and sad time for Bu Isma. With the help of donators, they were able to rebuilt the shelter and go on operating as usual.

Interviewing Bu Isma.

You can follow Bu Isma's instagram and facebook to keep up with the dogs she had rescued.

Part 2 will tell about the rescue of one of Bu Isma's dogs. Wait for it next week!

While waiting, you can read my visit to the shelter here.