Dogged determination Blue Bombers star Brady Oliveira and girlfriend Alex Blumberg share a passion for rescuing sick, abandoned strays By: Taylor Allen Posted: 10:00 AM CDT Friday, Mar. 14, 2025 Last Modified: 11:52 AM CDT Friday, Mar. 14, 2025 Updates

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This article was published 14/03/2025 (233 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BALI — More than 90 dogs — many suffering from a combination of ticks, fleas, skin diseases, blood viruses and eye infections — are crammed into the shelter, eagerly awaiting their next meal.

Heavy rains have flooded most of the compound’s yard, forcing many of the animals to climb on to a cement platform, a few scattered wooden pallets, a handful of chairs and a lone bench.

“I’m sorry,” says Eta Kadek, a Balinese woman who — somehow, some way — manages to provide care with extremely limited resources. “I don’t have rubber boots for everyone.”

Winnipeg Blue Bombers star running back Brady Oliveira and girlfriend Alex Blumberg are standing outside the front entrance, having just arrived after clearing out an entire aisle at a nearby pet store where they purchased 10 large bags of dog food to donate.

“That’s no problem,” Oliveira responds. “We’ll take off our shoes.”

The animal lovers from Winnipeg slip off their runners before tiptoeing through the murky water, dodging floating feces, to reach the dry side of the property to help with feeding.

It’s a side of Bali — famous for its white sand beaches, waterfalls and stunning rice terrace fields — that you’ll never see in a tourism campaign.

“This is our date night,” quips Blumberg.

“You never know what to expect. People say, ‘I want to do rescue work,’ but do you actually want to do rescue work? … It’s not glamorous, you get dirty, and it ain’t pretty.”–Brady Oliveira

One of the freshly delivered bags of lamb-flavoured kibble is ripped open and dumped into a large blue bucket along with scraps of chicken meat.

“We usually add rice, too, but we don’t have any today,” Kadek says.

Oliveira reaches in with his bare hands to mix it together, while several of the dogs circle his feet.

“This isn’t for everyone,” says the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player, who spends three months of the off-season on the Indonesian island with Blumberg.

“You never know what to expect. People say, ‘I want to do rescue work,’ but do you actually want to do rescue work? There’s so much that goes into it. It’s not glamorous, you get dirty, and it ain’t pretty.”

Behind him, Blumberg crouches down, surrounded by five pups anxiously waiting to be held.

With so many dogs in tight quarters, ailments spread quickly. Scabies, a condition where tiny mites burrow into the skin and cause intense itchiness and rashes, is common, and it can even be transferred to humans.

Blumberg has learned that the hard way.

“Brady always says, ‘Don’t touch that dog. Don’t do it, you’re gonna get it.’ And then I do it anyways, and then I get it.

“Last year was really bad. He had to go get me scabies skin cream at, like, midnight. I put it all over my body and I was wrapped (like a mummy) because I was so itchy and I couldn’t scratch. So, I said, ‘OK, I won’t touch the dogs.’

“Until the next one.”

Oliveira and Blumberg first met during a rescue mission to Sandy Bay First Nation with K9 Advocacy Manitoba. In 2022, they travelled to Mexico, where they rescued six dogs and sent them to Vancouver for adoption.

Since then, they’ve been making the trek to Bali from January to March to help put a dent into the vacation hot spot’s countless stray population.

Most of the dogs at Kadek’s shelter come from a nearby cemetery, which has turned into a dumping ground for unwanted pets. Recently, she came across five puppies stuffed in a red reusable grocery bag.

After feeding her own brood, Kadek heads out in the evening with remaining kibble. She’ll find anywhere from 30 to 80 dogs.

If any need immediate medical attention, or if they’re a small breed and unlikely to survive on their own, she’ll take them to a vet and, later, home. On the odd evening that she can’t make it, she’ll pay a friend in rice to go in her place.

“She’s a walking angel,” Oliveira says.

Kadek has names for all of the dogs she keeps under her roof — just ask.

“That’s Bobby,” she says.

How about the little white one over there? “Putri.”

And the black one on the chair? “That one is Tete.”

While the rest chow down, a five-month old brown-and-white beagle mix separates from the pack and plops down by the front gate where Oliveira and Blumberg’s hired driver, a local man named Adi Sasmika, is waiting.

As Oliveira and Blumberg wash their feet after making their way back through the feces and mud, Sasmika, while giving his new buddy a head scratch, looks up and says, “I’ll take him.”

“What do you mean, you’ll take him?” Oliveira says.

“I’ll take him,” Sasmika repeats.

“Are you sure? Like, you want to adopt him?”

“Please, please. I want to adopt him,” Sasmika insists.

Blumberg, in disbelief, is grinning ear to ear. “Adi, you’re amazing.”

And he already knows what he is going to name the puppy.

“Bolu,” Sasmika says, inspired by a type of cake in Indonesia.

“The cake’s colour is brown and white, and tastes so sweet. A lot of locals love this cake, and bolu also means someone cute and nice.”

With the latest addition, Sasmika — who has been driving the Winnipeggers around in his black Toyota Innova minivan since their first trek to Southeast Asia together — and his family will now have nine dogs and three cats.

“It just shows you what the people here are like,” says Oliveira. “Adi is like our family now. We keep in touch with him all year.”

Sasmika, his wife and three children live in an unfinished hut in a local Balinese village.

“And by hut, I mean, it’s a hut. We’ve been trying to figure out how they can get the rest of the material to build the rest of it,” says Blumberg.

“He takes good care of his family for sure, (but) now he’s using his money to build a shelter (for their pets). I’ll tell him, ‘Adi, build your house first.’ And he’s like ‘No, you’ve given so much to me and my family. This is your mission so I want to support your mission and do what I can with my land.’

“It makes me cry. They are such kind-hearted, beautiful people.”

 

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At first glance, there isn’t a dog in sight at the cemetery.

But Kadek climbs off her motorbike and calls out, strolling along the overgrown sidewalk with pail and plastic scoop in hand, and they come out of the woodwork.

Instead of utter chaos, with endless barking, fighting and growling, the homeless hounds line up and wait for some food to be placed in front of them. After all, they know the drill.

“I only had one dog 10 years ago,” says Kadek, who was introduced to Oliveira and Blumberg through Sasmika.

“I live behind the cemetery and, before, it was my friend who fed the dogs here, but then my friend moved. So, then I started feeding the cemetery dogs.”

A protective mama appears out of the bush, with her three pups close behind. Their naturally white coats are now a dark grey from a life spent in dirt and rubbish.

“It’s like the Wild Wild West out here,” says Blumberg.

Oliveira and Blumberg assist Kadek with food and money donations, but their biggest difference-maker is funding mass sterilization and vaccination clinics in the area. So far this winter, they’ve helped treat more than 200 dogs, and that number could rise by the time they return home later this month.

“Bali used to be the island of the dogs. It was all beautiful, healthy dogs, and then people started bringing in their own breed dogs, they overbred and then disease and everything happened,” Blumberg says.

“She’s a walking angel.”–Brady Oliveira on shelter owner, Eta Kadek

“But the typical Balinese dog (an actual breed that dates back over 12,000 years) is a very strong dog that never had disease, rabies, skin problems or anything like that. They were used to protect the land and now it’s become overrun.”

The good news is vet bills here are far lower than in the West. The bad news is it’s still a substantial amount of money that many cannot afford to pay.

Between November and February, Kadek racked up a $2,000 tab to treat more than 30 dogs in need. She had no way of paying it off until Oliveira and Blumberg stepped in to cover the cost.

Kadek is asked how much their help has meant, but her gratitude can’t be expressed in words. Instead, she wraps her arms around them, separately, in heartfelt embrace.

“For us to be able to step in financially and help the locals that are doing amazing work every day, and say, ‘Hey, keep doing the amazing work that you’re doing,” says Oliveira.

“You’re on this planet because you’re meant to be doing this. You do it, we’ll cover the financial side, just keep doing what you’re doing,’ has been a big part of our mission when we come out here.

“This is our purpose and our calling. It’s great and makes us feel really, really good.”

Oliveira and Blumberg have a mini shelter of their own taking shape at their villa. They typically have about three rescues staying with them, and plan to fly them to Winnipeg for adoption.

One of them is Lily — the first rescue of this trip — a tiny black-and-white furball left to fend for herself at the cemetery. Less than half the size of most of the dogs there, her chances of survival were slim.

Now, she’s living the good life. Oliveira and Blumberg even hired a friend of Sasmika’s — who had been struggling to find work to support her family due to her inability to speak English — as their daytime dog nanny while they’re at the gym or taking care of other responsibilities.

“Most people out here, they won’t take money, they want to work for it,” says Oliveira.

“So then it’s like, ‘OK what can we get her to do? We already have a cleaner at our villa who does everything. What if we had a dog nanny?’

“When we’re gone, she can stay with the dogs, brush them, take them for walks, whatever. So, she hangs out at our villa all day with them and we pay her. It gives her work. It works great.”

“This is our purpose and our calling. It’s great and makes us feel really, really good.”–Brady Oliveira

Word has quickly spread about the work they do, to the point where people reach out when a pet needs saving.

There was Satria, who was hit by a car and left for dead on the road for more than 24 hours. Suffering from paralysis in her back legs, they got her fitted for a wheelchair and she will soon be flown to a New York organization called Animal Haven that helps dogs with disabilities find a forever home.

“We are the few people that would take a chance on a dog like that,” says Blumberg.

“We go based off of what’s humane and what’s not humane and if the dog has a chance at a quality of life. She’s between one and three years old and had the will to live. She’s loving, kissing, wants to cuddle, wants to play. She can go to the bathroom on her own and is full of life. Paralyzed dogs can have very amazing lives.”

There was also Wasabi — a golden retriever ditched at a boarding facility by its American owner.

Oliveira, who has a soft spot for the breed and already has two in Winnipeg — Nellie and Gunnar — along with a shepherd-pitbull mix named Lady, warned Blumberg that if they take in Wasabi, there’s a good chance he’ll want to keep him.

“He was so sad at first that he got dumped,” he says. “Golden retrievers are so sensitive and emotional, and when we first got him, you could see the look in his eyes. Then after a couple days, he was acting how he was supposed to act.”

Oliveira and Blumberg estimate their rescue efforts will total somewhere between $25,000 and $35,000. The largest expense, by far, is transporting the dogs out of the country. Getting each dog to North America costs about $5,000.

The couple started a GoFundMe in February that has now raised in excess of $16,000 from donors across the world. They’re consistently uploading videos and posting updates to show people how their donations are being spent.

“That’s why I think social media is so awesome. We’re bringing people together through these social platforms that want to help support us, and it’s been amazing,” says Oliveira.

“But we’re not going to say no to something because we don’t have the donations. If we have to pay out of pocket for it, we’re going to do it. This is our passion.”

While they’re making a difference in the community, it does feel like a losing battle, at times. For every dog adopted from Kadek, she brings in another 10. And no matter where you go in Bali, you’re going to spot a street dog.

“It can be very defeating. You come here, you feel like you’re making a difference, but it’s a never-ending cycle.”–Alex Blumberg

On top of being vulnerable to a long list of diseases and infections, the strays also face the dangers of being captured for the meat trade, poisoned by frustrated locals or starving to death.

“It can be very defeating. You come here, you feel like you’re making a difference, but it’s a never-ending cycle,” says Blumberg.

“But that’s why it’s so important to appreciate the small wins, because if everyone stopped, we’d have a way bigger problem on our hands.”

 

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Sasmika is beaming as he video-calls his kids, eager to introduce them to the new runt of their litter.

“They’re so excited that they don’t want me to take him to the vet, they just want me to take him home,” he says.

After hugging Kadek goodbye, the entourage heads to the clinic to not only get Bolu checked out, but pick up Theo — a small, almost hairless dog battling a severe case of scabies that they had to chase with a net before Oliveira was finally able to catch him.

After two weeks at the clinic, he’s ready to go to their villa.

They push open the clinic’s glass doors and, as they approach the front desk, are dealt a harsh reminder that not every rescue has a happy ending.

“Here’s Shadow’s ashes,” says the receptionist, as she slides an urn wrapped in an orange fabric with the name SHADOW written in felt marker, across the counter.

Shadow was a big black dog they brought in with a maggot-infested wound. Little did they know, it turned out he also had Stage 4 kidney failure, and even after five rounds of IV antibiotics, there was no saving him.

“A lot of rescue people that we meet, especially back home, they’ll say they’re very hard now and that nothing fazes them anymore because they’ve seen it all. But my emotions still get me every single time,” says Blumberg, who has nearly triple the amount of rescue experience as Oliveira.

The now 36-year-old, who first started when she was 21, also works in real estate for her family’s company, Monopoly Realty.

“But it doesn’t consume me. I have my moment where I have my emotion towards it, and then I can be OK.”

While a frightened Bolu gets assessed by the vet, Blumberg advocates for a blood test. It’s a good thing she did.

In addition to having an inflamed throat, likely from getting bit by another dog, the results come back showing he has ehrlichia (a blood parasite), anemia (low red blood cell count) and demodectic mange (a parasitic mite that lives in the hair follicles of dogs).

As the vet rattles off a shopping list for Bolu that includes antibiotics, supplements and medicated shampoo, you can almost hear Sasmika gulp before asking: “Is this expensive?”

“We’re paying for it,” Oliveira assures him.

Holding Bolu — now sporting a green collar — snug against his chest, Sasmika helps Oliveira carry a kennel with Theo inside to the car while Blumberg settles the bill.

One month later, Bolu is happy and healthy, but things went south for Theo. After a few promising weeks, it became clear something was off.

A return to the clinic revealed he was positive for distemper — a serious and contagious virus that attacks a dog’s respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems. It eventually spread to his brain, leaving them no choice but to put him down.

“I think I can keep it together pretty well, but it really hit me, holding him in my arms, and his life just goes. It was just very emotional,” Oliveira says.

“This is the worst part of the work that we do. We’re not going to save them all.”

That same day, they received a call with more difficult news — a biopsy revealed that the tumour Wasabi, the golden retriever, had to get surgically removed from his neck was cancerous. If they didn’t get all the cancer cells, it could eventually metastasize to his lungs and liver.

“We’ll be by his side the entire time and make sure that we can get him healthy. That might have to be many chemo sessions, if we have to go that route,” says Oliveira.

“There’s going to be highs and lows. We know it, we’ve seen it, and we’ve just got to keep pushing and moving forward.”

They consider Bali their second home and plan to make the 30-hour journey there every winter for the foreseeable future. The 27-year-old Oliveira, the CFL’s reigning two-time Most Outstanding Canadian, still has plenty left to give on the gridiron. But he already has a clear vision for life after football.

The couple dreams of buying an acreage in Manitoba and open a sanctuary to treat and rehabilitate dogs. They also hope to expand their efforts, delivering more sterilization clinics to other parts of the world — not just Indonesia — and, perhaps, even doing it year-round.

“It might sound crazy to some people, but I really think it will become a reality one day,” Oliveira says.

“This is our mission, and it always will be.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31