(Jakarta Post/ANN) — Dog Meat Free Indonesia (DMFI), Yogyakarta band Shaggydog and 2018 Puteri Indonesia beauty pageant winner Alya Nurshabrina launched two videos to campaign against dog meat consumption on Thursday in Yogyakarta.
DMFI representative Bobby Fernando hopes the videos, titled “Kini Kamu Tahu” (Now You Know), will influence people to stop eating dog meat.
“This is important to prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases,” Bobby said.
He said there are many kiosks in Yogyakarta that are still selling dog meat. According to the DMFI, some 6,500 dogs are slaughtered in Yogyakarta every day for consumption. A record number of 12,000 dogs are slaughtered a day in the neighboring town of Surakarta.
The two videos contain the testimonies of Alya and members of Shaggydog. They also show how brutally the dogs are caught and slaughtered.
Alya called for more support — particularly from the younger generation — of the movement.
Odyssey Sanco of Shaggydog said the two videos will be screened on videotrons across downtown Yogyakarta for a week and will be uploaded onto YouTube.
Meanwhile, Yogyakarta Deputy Mayor Heroe Poerwadi signed an agreement with Animal Friends Jogja (AFJ) to keep pets free of rabies.
The Yogyakarta administration acknowledged, however, that there was no specific regulation that bans the selling of dog meat for consumption but called on people to stop to practice.
“What can be legally processed is the torture against dogs as it violates Article 302 of the Criminal Code [KUHP],” Heroe said, adding that the city administration would soon make a mayoral decree to follow up in a Husbandry Directorate General circular issued in September last year on the monitoring of dog meat distribution.
