70,000 Dogs Killed In Bali Each Year & Fed To Unaware Tourists

Recently, an investigation conducted by Animal Welfare Association has found that around 70,000 dogs are killed each year in Bali for meat. They are sold to unsuspecting tourists visiting Bali as satay dish.

According to Australia’s ABC report, dogs are regularly caught on the island, killed, cooked and served to unsuspecting tourists. They also discovered that many of the dogs are poisoned which could pose a serious health risk to humans who end up eating the meat.

In Bali, the selling and eating of dog meat is legal, but using poison or cruel methods to kill dog is against the law.

Animals Australia’s campaign director Lyn White said, “The dog-meat trade breaches animal cruelty laws and food safety laws. That is a statement of fact. Tourists will walk down a street, they’ll see a street store selling satay but what they are not realizing is the letters RW on the store mean it is dog meat being served.”

An investigator uncovered the truth of Bali

An undercover investigator for Animals Australia spent 4 months infiltrating the meat-trade on the island. He pretended to be a documentary maker filming about local cuisine, and he was eventually invited to watch how the dogs were caught.

The investigator, known only as ‘Luke’ said: “I began the investigation by pinpointing and getting to know the key players in Bali’s completely unregulated dog-meat industry. Eventually, they invited me to join them as their gangs stole, hunted, poisoned and killed dogs.”

Luke eventually met Pak Puris, 83- year- old man,  who kills the dogs with a metal pole, he told the investigator that he doesn’t eat dog because “it makes him want to vomit”.

He has been killing dogs for 30 years and in that time, he has culled thousands – a job he said he had to do because he was too old to do anything else.

On another occasion, Luke joined a group of hunters who used fish laced with cyanide to kill dogs. On this occasion, Luke turned off his camera for the first time as a puppy died after several “agonizing minutes.”

It is thought that the tradition of eating dogs didn’t exist on the island until the arrival of Chinese immigrants.

70,000 dogs killed in Bali each year

The Bali Animal Welfare Association are working hard to try and cut down on the illegal mistreatment of dogs, but they currently have only 150 dogs in care, compared to the estimated 70,000 that are slaughtered each year.

Lyn White said: “This is not about laying blame. This is about unnecessary cruelty that puts the human health population at risk and is causing shocking animal cruelty, it also is breaching Bali laws. We are certainly also willing to partner with the Bali government to bring about positive solution here.”

Reference: International Business Time

Images Credit: Animals Australia

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