Indonesian dog meat market gone, but tighter laws needed to cull trade: 'the cruelty is obscene'

Officially, the trade in dog meat at a notorious market on Indonesia's Sulawesi Island was ended by authorities last month in a nationwide first, but locals say the deep-rooted tradition isn't going anywhere.

A taste for anything with four legs means dogs and cats will continue to be bludgeoned, charred to death and consumed during neighbourhood feasts, according to Sulawesi residents.

Tomohon, a high-altitude city in North Sulawesi, can boast of scenic mountain views, vibrant fields of flowers and chilly, breezy weather. But it's also home to the infamous Beriman market, an anything-goes place that travel guide Lonely Planet once described as "not for the faint-hearted".

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Visitors are greeted by the sight of slaughtered pigs hanging above butchers' white-tiled counters, alongside rows of blowtorched bats and two-metre-long pythons suspended from hooks.

Dogs were once among them, but on July 21, a tall banner was unfurled declaring the trade over after years of campaigns by activists and global celebrities to cull the practice of slaughtering dogs and cats.

"The great international public concern about violence against animals has an unfavourable impact on the tourism sector, therefore the Tomohon municipal government is taking the necessary steps," the city's regional secretary Edwin Roring said.

In 2018, more than 90 international stars, including US actress Cameron Diaz, British comedian Ricky Gervais, and US host Ellen DeGeneres signed a letter urging Indonesian President Joko Widodo to ban the trade of dog and cat meat.

The potential spread of diseases such as rabies and African swine fever stemming from unhygienic practices connected to the ill-monitored trade was another of the reasons given for the new regulation.

"More than 90 per cent of the dogs and cats sold in Tomohon come from rabies areas such as South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, Gorontalo," said John Karundeng, head of animal husbandry and animal health agency in Tomohon. "[The animal trade] has the potential to increase the transmission of rabies in Tomohon."

The Humane Society International (HSI) group described the market's closure as "historic". It had previously estimated that more than 130,000 dogs were slaughtered at traditional markets across Sulawesi every year.

"North Sulawesi is an epicentre of Indonesia's cruel and dangerous dog and cat meat trade; the cruelty is obscene and the public health risks from open slaughter and contaminated meat are unparalleled," Lola Webber, HSI's director of campaigns to end the dog meat trade, said in a statement.

"It is a huge victory for animal welfare and public safety, that never again will dogs and cats be bludgeoned and blowtorched at Tomohon market, and we hope this unprecedented agreement will set the standard for other markets and leaders to follow."

While animal rights activists welcomed the new regulation, they also urged authorities to strengthen law enforcement, which is the main challenge in ensuring animal welfare in Indonesia.

"We encourage the government to pay more attention to animal welfare. Indonesia has animal welfare rules, but the number one problem is weak law enforcement. We have laws, but many people don't know about them," said Frank Delano Manus, programme manager of Animal Friends Manado Indonesia, which works with HSI across the country to end the dog and cat meat trade.

The move is but a first step in a region where dog and cat meat feature heavily in ethnic cuisine.

Among the Minahasans, a Christian group native to North Sulawesi, dogs are typically consumed in a dish called rintek wuuk, which translates to "short furs" and is served at weddings, funerals or church-related events. It's also widely available at Minahasan restaurants across the province.

"I support the ban to sell live dogs and cats at the market, but in my opinion it should be OK to sell dog and cat meat, as the viruses would be killed from [the animals] being burned several times," said Roy Nangka, a seller of bats, pythons and wild boar meat at Beriman market.

"We have been eating rintek wuuk for generations. At a party, in a restaurant, there must be rintek wuuk. No rintek wuuk, no fun."

Nangka said he sold cats from 1998 until 2012, when local municipalities recommended that sellers at the market stop trading dogs and cats because of heightened scrutiny from animal rights groups. Cats would go for at least 100,000 rupiah (US$6.60) per piece, he said.

He still regularly enjoys eating dog, which he said has the texture of "horse meat".

In North Sulawesi, locals will eat any animal as long as it has been cooked into a dish, after which the "meat" will be referred to as an umbrella term ikan, meaning fish, he said.

"I like to eat dogs, but I buy them at restaurants. We don't eat dogs at home. If I keep a dog, and I kill it, it's not good. It's better if it's someone else's dog," Nangka said. "That's why the dog meat in Tomohon is imported from outside. The dogs come from the Muslim provinces, as they don't eat them."

Although the Beriman market will no longer sell dog and cat meat, Nangka said consumers could still get the meat directly from suppliers, who deliver door to door.

At Langoan, another market some 45 minutes' drive from Tomohon, the practice of beating dogs over the head and blowtorching them is alive and well. On a recent visit on a Saturday morning, This Week in Asia saw dogs kept in 10 filthy cages that were displayed prominently on the market's curb. Buyers would select a dog, which would later be struck to death by the sellers on the spot.

Charred dog meat would then be cut to pieces, and sold for 55,000 rupiah (US$3.60) per kilogram. On that morning, buyers were flocking to buy dog meat for a coming church event nearby, locals said.

Back in Tomohon, the now-former owners of slaughterhouses said they would abide by the new regulation, even though it was hard for them to abandon the decades-long practice.

"I've been trading dogs and cats for 30 years. We dog and cat traders just follow the rules, but for us, it is very hard as this will reduce our income," said trader Melky Pongoh.

HSI rescued 25 dogs and three cats at Melky's slaughterhouse on the day the ban was announced. According to Melky, the dogs came from the nearby provinces of Gorontalo, Central Sulawesi, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi. He earned up to 50 million rupiah (US$3,300) per month from the trade, he said, but will now sell grilled fish.

Elvianus Supongoh, who had been in the business for 25 years, said he could sell up to 120 dogs per month. He now plans to sell carrots, pumpkins, leeks and other vegetables from his one-hectare garden instead.

"If there are no dogs in the market, then the people will get used to not eating dogs," he said. "I myself stopped eating dogs a long time ago, since I have gout."

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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