Dog and cat meat trade banned at infamous North Sulawesi market in Indonesia

The ban on the Tomohon market in North Sulawesi province is among the first in a country where one million dogs and cats are slaughtered every year, although most Indonesians, who are Muslim, do not eat dog meat.

Eating dog and cat meat is a tradition of the ancestors of the Minahasa people, the largest ethnic group in North Sulawesi, but Tomohon officials said they hoped to educate residents about animal cruelty and the health risks associated with eating such meat, including rabies.

“We hope that Tomohon can be completely free from the trade in dogs and cats,” said Edwin Roring, the secretary of Tomohon City.

“Because the way to reduce the interest in consuming dogs and cats in Tomohon is to start by stopping their sales in the market.”

Roring said anyone who violated the ban would face legal sanctions, and that the local authorities would provide alternative livelihoods for former traders of dog and cat meat.

A 2021 opinion poll revealed that 93 % of Indonesians supported a national ban on dog meat and that only 4.5 % had ever eaten such meat. Yet more than 20,000 dogs and cats are slaughtered every week.

In North Sulawesi, activists say dogs and cats are snatched from the streets and from families, stuffed into crates with their mouths bound shut, transported in appalling conditions and then kept caged in filthy markets.

They are then killed in the most brutal ways, often in front of children who accompany their parents to the market. For instance, butchers take blowtorches to the dogs and cats while they are alive, to remove fur from their skin.

Humane Society International and Animal Friends Manado Indonesia (Afmi), organisations that have campaigned for years to end the dog and cat meat trade in Indonesia, said it also posed a serious risk to human health.

Dogs and cats carry rabies and other infectious diseases, they said.

“We hope that one day, there will be no more people in Tomohon eating dogs and cats,” said Frank Delano Manus, an Afmi activist.

“There is resistance because people believe eating dogs and cats is an important tradition of the Minahasa people that is hard to get rid of,” he said.

Dr Karanvir Kukreja, Southeast Asia campaigner for global animal welfare group Four Paws, said the Tomohon ban could not have come soon enough.

“The work of DMFI (Dog Meat Free Indonesia) over the past five years has relentlessly exposed the fact that Tomohon (market) is one of the worst animal welfare cases we have seen when it comes to the dog and cat meat trade,” he said in a statement. DMFI is a coalition of Indonesian and international groups.

Four Paws has collected two million signatures calling for an end to the trade in dog and cat meat across Southeast Asia.

“What we would like to see now is a national ban after years of exposing severe and endless animal cruelty,” said Kukreja.

Earlier in 2023, Jakarta banned the sale of dog meat altogether. Indonesia is one of several countries in Asia where some people still consume dog and cat meat.

It is estimated that 30 million dogs and cats, including stolen pets, are killed for the meat trade every year in Asia, including an estimated 10 million dogs in Southeast Asia alone, Four Paws said.

Dog meat a bestseller

Animal traders in Tomohon are unhappy with the ban.

“What can we do? It’s already a rule from the government, so we have to follow it,” Melki Pongo, one of the traders, told BenarNews.

He said he had been supplying dogs and cats to markets in North Sulawesi for almost 30 years without any problems.

But since videos of dogs and cats being killed in horrific ways at the Tomohon market went viral online, there had been many calls to stop selling the animals, he said.

Pongo was referring to videos released in 2018 by campaigners against animal cruelty that exposed Tomohon market’s cruel practices and led to worldwide outrage, including from global personalities.

He said that 90 % of the dogs and cats he sold came from neighbouring provinces in Sulawesi and Kalimantan, which are predominantly Muslim, except North Sulawesi, which is mainly Christian. Muslims are forbidden from consuming dog and cat meat.

Pongo said he bought an animal for 50,000 rupiah to 100,000 rupiah (S$4.40 to S$8.80) and sold it for about 700,000 rupiah in North Sulawesi. Now, he said he would concentrate on selling pigs.

“I will quit selling dogs completely. I pray that God will bless me with more luck,” he said.

Another trader, Junly Hesda Kapo, said dog meat was a bestseller in Tomohon market.

“Usually, suppliers brought 150 animals to the market and they were sold out in hours,” he added.

Kapo, who also eats dog meat, said he and his family had no problems doing so.

“The meat is delicious, like free-range chicken, especially if it is cooked as rica-rica,” he said, referring to a spicy dish with chilli, shallots, garlic and other spices.

Kapo said all traders would follow the government’s rule.

“Consumption may also drop naturally if there are no more sales of dogs and cats,” he said.

The Jakarta Post

Asia News Network