In August, the Dog Meat Free Indonesia (DMFI) coalition was back in North Sulawesi to continue our investigations into the province’s infamous live animal markets where tens of thousands of dogs and cats are traded and slaughtered each week. The situation is indescribable and unimaginably cruel. Cages after cages of dogs and cats waiting for slaughter. They sit and they wait for their turn, in tiny cages, whilst they watch other dogs and cats bludgeoned and blow torched. The look of terror in their eyes and their trembling bodies are haunting. It is like a scene from a horror movie, yet this is the daily reality for dogs and cats in these markets.

All the animals at thee live animal markets – dogs, cats, monkeys, chickens, ducks, snakes, pigs and fish – suffer in the most unimaginable ways. We always save those we can…

On one particular day, we were able to save two very special cats, who we later named ‘Tulip’ and ‘Daisy’, as the city had just finished celebrating their annual Flower Festival. Despite the trauma they had endured as they sat in the market surrounded by the most gruesome of scenes, Tulip and Daisy are now recovering well at AFMI’s sanctuary and have become good friends. 

Seeing them now, you would never know what they had endured and it is our hope that soon they will forget the horrors they experienced at the hands of the traders, and that the only reminder are Daisy’s singed whiskers from coming so close to the blowtorch used to dehair slaughtered dogs and cats…

We are making great progress with the Indonesian government’s recognition of the “torture” and dangers of the dog and cat meat trades, and we will never give up until the announcement made on the 2nd August at the “National Coordination of Animal Welfare” meeting to end these cruel and dangerous trades results in effective and real change for the animals in such desperate need.