In Indonesia, some cash-strapped residents are selling pet dogs as food

When Indonesian doctor Susana Somali saw a social media video of a pregnant dog about to be slaughtered, she was overcome with shock.

“Someone posted images of this crying dog on social media and I saw the tears in her eyes,” she said. “That’s when I became aware of the butchers.”

Since then, Somali has been confronting butchers and helping to rescue the animals from the chopping block.

Somali’s sprawling Jakarta complex, home to about 1,400 canines, has become a refuge for at-risk animals as cash-strapped residents sell pets, or even stray dogs, into Indonesia’s controversial dog meat trade.

Myriad breeds, including huskies, pit bulls, and German shepherds, roam the 54,000 square foot Pejaten Animal Shelter in Jakarta, which Somali started in 2009.

Back then, Somali rescued one or two dogs from a butcher each week. But that number has soared to as many as 20 in recent months, as strays are snatched off the streets for their meat amid the coronavirus crisis.

Mostly acting on tip-offs, Somali and her team hit the streets looking for stray dogs and butcher shops, where more and more doomed animals are spending their last days in cramped cages.

The 55-year-old doctor – who juggles a day job testing Covid-19 samples at a local hospital – negotiates with often unfriendly butchers, sometimes paying them cash or supplying other meat to secure the animals’ release.

“The real battle isn’t rescuing them from butchers, although that is always scary. The challenge is taking care of these dogs during the pandemic,” said Somali, a mother of two.

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Somali and about 30 staff at Pejaten Animal Shelter are struggling to care for a huge number of animals as donations plunge in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.

The money is crucial to help cover upwards of US$29,000 in monthly expenses, including employee salaries and the daily cost of half a tonne of meat for the animals.

Somali and her team rescued dozens of puppies bound for a local Korean eatery this month, but they do not always make it in time.

“I tried to reach the area but was told that the dog had already been [killed],” she said of one recent dash to a butcher’s shop. “It was a minute too late.”

Animal welfare groups estimate as many as 1 million dogs are killed annually across Indonesia, with more than 100 restaurants in Jakarta alone serving their meat, according to government figures.

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Dog is often a culinary speciality among Indonesia’s non-Muslim minority groups.

The animals are considered unclean in Islam and rarely kept as pets in Muslim-majority countries.

Indonesia is relatively relaxed by comparison, but working at the shelter can still be tricky for Muslim volunteers like Ria Rosalina.

“Many people have asked me why I take care of dogs but also wear hijab,” she said, referring to the religious head-covering worn by many Indonesian women. “But I don’t care. I just tell them that dogs were created by God, just like humans.”

The plight of Indonesia’s dogs isn’t limited to the megacity capital.

Animal welfare organisation Four Paws has warned that thousands of strays in Bali were at risk of starving or being snatched by dog meat traders, as a plunge in tourism hammers the holiday island.

It is also a growing problem in other parts of Southeast Asia as traders prey on owners facing hard economic times, said Katherine Polak, a veterinarian with Four Paws.

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“Animals are at a very heightened risk,” she said. “Some low-income people might be tempted to sell their pets.”

For years, activists have called on the government to halt Indonesia’s dog meat market – a goal shared by Somali.

“Ending the dog meat trade may sound like a dream but everything starts from a dream,” the shelter owner said. “I’ll always keep fighting.”