Wildlife in the Kampung

The other day I asked my son why there didn't seem to be many dogs running around the kampung.  He told me that Muslims believed that dogs were unclean animals and so you wouldn't tend to see many dogs around a Muslim community.  Ah, that explained it.  Although our Fresca, being a pure white powder puff type of a dog might defy the "unclean" definition of a dog.  However, that got me to thinking that you might enjoy hearing about the type of animals that I've seen in the kampung here and in Jakarta.

Can you see the animal that is on this rooftop?  It's a pesky rooster.  Those roosters are the bane of my existence here.  They start crowing around 3:45 a.m.  No kidding!

 This morning I looked out on our front stoop and here was this big brute parading back and forth in front of our door.  This has got to be one of the biggest roosters I've seen in a long time.  He even had the nerve to poo on our front doormat.  Where's a hatchet when I need one?

I grabbed my camera and ran out the door to get his picture.  Jason remarked as I was running past him, "I can't believe the things you are afraid of and the things you aren't afraid of.  I'm terrified of chickens."

"Oh, heck, Jason," I replied.  "I grew up around chickens.  They don't bother me.  Don't forget.  I took a poultry science class in college and had to manhandle over 60 hens, pulling them out of cages, flipping them upside down and handling them to judge whether or not they'd be good layers.  Chickens don't bother me."

This guy obviously likes our front stoop because it sits up high overlooking the rest of the kampung and he can survey his harem from up here.  We passed one of his hens the other day when we were returning from Jakarta.  She had several little chicks clustered around her.  Funny thing....the hens are all pretty scrawny things here but the roosters are fairly plump.  Guess we know who does the hard work.

Neighbor's laundry drying on the fence rail.

In addition to chickens, I've seen a fair amount of cats in the kampung but most are missing parts of their tails and/or bits of their ears.  It's not an easy life for a cat here.  I hear lots of cat fights in the night.  I wouldn't even be surprised if cats and rats don't go at it at night and the cats don't occasionally come out on the losing end.  Those rats are pretty big.  The other day, Jason grabbed my arm as we were walking through a kampung to keep me from stepping on a big dead rat on the side of the road.  Ugh!

View of laundry from my bedroom window

 That's about all I've noticed for animals.  Oh wait, I have seen bird cages hanging up by some homes and by the entrances to some shops.  I'm not entirely sure if the ones by the shops are pets or are waiting for someone to buy them for food.  I don't think I want to know.