New life in Canada for dogs rescued from slaughterhouse in Indonesia

The adoption program will allow 45 dogs rescued on their way to death last year to find new lives in Canada. slaughterhouses illegal in Indonesiathe country in which dog meat it is not banned and is still common in some parts of the country, where 13,700 dogs are slaughtered every month.

“Last November, together with the police, we closed the slaughterhouse in Sukahardjo, Central Java, and 53 rescued dogs were sent to Jakarta. They were in a terrible state. In fact, we were afraid that they would not survive, but fortunately most of them survived,” Karin Franken, coordinator of the Dog Meat Free Indonesia Association (DMFI, Dog Meat Free Indonesia), explained to Efe on Tuesday.

45 animals travel from this Monday until tomorrow Wednesday in three groups of 15 from Indonesian capital to a Canadian city Montrealwhere they will be adopted by Canadian families as “it’s hard to find a home for mixed-breed dogs in Indonesia.”

“Our partners in Canada they can find good homes for them, so we let them go,” said Franken, who is also the co-founder of the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN).

for 45 dogs this is the beginning of a new life, unlike the nightmare that ended almost a year ago when they were rescued from a truck in which they rode tied and sacked.

other dogs (Three of the 53 rescued dogs died, but 16 of some of the pregnant dogs were also born.) For now, they remain at the JAAN shelter.

CHANGE OF POWER

This rescue was one of the most Indonesia due to the impact of the poor conditions in which the animals were transported, and because they seemed to mark a change in the attitude of the country’s authorities: the person who transported them and the owner of the illegal slaughterhouse were sentenced to prison.

consumption dog meat It is not explicitly prohibited in Indonesia, except in some provinces and cities, but the animal trade is often conducted in a non-transparent manner and against laws such as animal health or food safety, allowing the authorities to act.

DMFI estimates that 7% of the Indonesian population eats dog meata low percentage, but this in a country of 270 million people is equivalent to almost 19 million people, although not all of them consume it daily.

The figure is consistent with a survey conducted by consulting firm Nielsen two years ago in which 93% Indonesian advocated a law prohibiting eating dog meat.

HEALTH CARE

One of the epicenters of consumption of this animal is the city of Solo in Central Java, near which the animals were rescued. dogs and where, according to the DMFI, 13,700 dogs are slaughtered for human consumption each month, a public health issue in addition to moral considerations.

Most of dogsFranken explains they come from East Java, where rabies is rampant, and another important part of Bali where the disease has also not been eradicated, making it illegal to trade these animals from one region of the country to another.

Although dog meat is prohibited for Muslimsmajority religion Indonesia as well as from Solo, in this region, eating these animals is considered a local custom that many locals are proud of.

The situation may gradually change with the help of Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the eldest son of President Joko Widodo, who, despite difficulties, plans to ban trade dog meat or at least introduce stricter regulation.

“We understand that it is not easy for him, but he is making the right decision to start regulating this,” Franken says.

EFE