General News

Indonesia’s dangerous & illegal dog meat trade continues unchallenged amidst Covid-19 pandemic, despite warnings from health experts and campaigners

Monday, 27 July 2020

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic that continues to cause global economic chaos, infections and fatalities, authorities in major cities throughout Indonesia continue to turn a blind eye to the illegal dog meat trades that health experts and campaigners warn facilitate the transmission of fatal zoonotic diseases.

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Dame Judi Dench, Ricky Gervais, Joanna Lumley unite with Indonesian superstars to urge President Jokowi to respond to COVID-19 by closing down Indonesia’s live animal markets and dog and cat meat trades

Tuesday, 12 May 2020

Some of Indonesia’s biggest stars, including Chelsea Islan, Andovi Dalopez and Sarah Sechan, feature alongside international celebrities Dame Judi Dench, Ricky Gervais, Joanna Lumley, Peter Egan, Rick Wakeman, and Lesley Nicol, in a video plea to President Jokowi to close down the country’s notoriously cruel and unsanitary live animal markets and dog and cat meat trades in the wake of Indonesia’s soaring COVID-19 crisis.

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Celebrities Ricky Gervais and Peter Egan join campaigners in calls for Indonesia to close down its Live Animal Markets

Wednesday, 18 March 2020

As the coronavirus COVID-19 continues to cause global chaos, sickness and fatalities, and Indonesia reports its first human infections, international and Indonesian celebrities join forces with campaigners from the Dog Meat Free Indonesia coalition to call on the Indonesian government to take action to close its cruel and filthy live animal markets to safeguard human and animal health and welfare.

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The Dog Meat Free Indonesia Coalition has issued an open letter warning of the risks of the country’s trade in wildlife and dogs & cats for meat

Wednesday, 29 January 2020

The Dog Meat Free Indonesia (DMFI) coalition has issued the open letter below to the President of Indonesia calling for urgent and proactive measures to make sure Indonesia is not the next point of origin of a deadly virus. We urge the President to prioritise the health and well-being of the overwhelming majority of the Indonesian population, rather than the preferences and profitability of a few, at the expense of animal welfare and national and global interests.

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Major step forward for our Dog Meat-Free Campaign in the City of Yogyakarta!

Wednesday, 18 December 2019

As part of our ongoing collaboration with the City of Yogyakarta (“Jogja”) government, local government-sponsored billboards have now been put up in two prominent locations in the city, with a clear message: Dogs are friends, not food!

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Governor Ganjar Pranowo Pledges Commitment to Tackle Cruel and Dangerous Dog Meat Trade in Central Java

Monday, 09 December 2019

Following on from of the release of the Dog Meat Free Indonesia (DMFI) coalition’s investigations into Central Java’s rampant dog meat trade, where an estimated 13,700 dogs are traded and slaughtered in the city of Solo alone each month, Governor Ganjar Pranowo met with coalition representatives on Tuesday to discuss the trade’s threat to public health and safety as well as concerns for the inherent animal cruelty.

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World Rabies Day: Governor of Central Java States “Dogs Are NOT Food!”

Monday, 07 October 2019

During a speech to celebrate international “World Rabies Day”, the Governor of Central Java declares that “Dogs and Cats are NOT food” and that the cruel dog meat trade must end!

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250,000 petition signatures are presented to Indonesia’s North Sulawesi Governor defying Government’s call to end the dog and cat meat trade

Thursday, 22 August 2019

DMFI’s petition signed by over a quarter of a million people from around the world calling for an end to the brutal dog and cat meat trade has been presented to Olly Dondokambey, Governor of North Sulawesi. The hand in comes as new shocking video evidence from the Dog Meat Free Indonesia coalition reveals the killing continues unabated in Tomohon, despite the Mayor’s office having given an assurance it would end.

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Impactful Actions to End the Dog Meat Trade Are Finally Being Taken in Indonesia

Saturday, 06 July 2019

After Central Java’s Regency of Karanganyar announced it would eradicate the dog meat trade, Provincial authorities have backed the move. Meanwhile, the Bali increases its efforts to close all dog meat restaurants island-wide, declaring it illegal!

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Central Java’s Karanganyar Regency announces action plan to end the dog meat trade after campaigners expose brutal trade in dogs for human consumption

Wednesday, 19 June 2019

Following the Dog Meat Free Indonesia coalition’s shocking exposé of the brutal trade in dogs for human consumption on Indonesia’s most populous island earlier this year, the regency of Karanganyar is set to become the island’s first to develop a comprehensive action plan to tackle the dangerous and brutal trade, as announced at a meeting between government officials and campaigners earlier this week.

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Horrific footage reveals large-scale trade in dogs for human consumption in Indonesia, defying the government’s pledge to end the trade

Thursday, 25 April 2019

Indonesian and international celebrities, including Ricky Gervais, Peter Egan and Sophia Latjuba, once again join calls on the Indonesian government to keep its promise to ban the cruel and dangerous dog and cat meat trades following the release of Dog Meat-Free Indonesia’s latest investigation documenting the large-scale trade and abuse of thousands of dogs throughout the central island of Java each month.

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Mars’ Story

Monday, 11 March 2019

In March 2019, we returned to North Sulawesi’s cruel dog and cat meat markets with our wonderful Ambassador Peter Egan. The visits were heartbreaking, as always, and never get any easier. And not being able to save all the dogs and cats who are in the most horrific of places and who have already endured so much cruelty as they await a brutal slaughter, is a haunting experience that stays with you for the rest of your life. But we saved those we could, and on one of the days, we were able to save 4 dogs, including a beautiful puppy we named “Mars”.

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British actor and DMFI Ambassador Peter Egan visits “sickening horrors” of North Sulawesi’s brutal dog and cat meat markets, calls on Indonesian government to take action

Monday, 04 March 2019

British actor and animal activist Peter Egan has made an emotional plea to the Indonesian government to shut down the country’s cruel and dangerous dog and cat meat trades, following his visit to infamous live animal markets in North Sulawesi with campaigners from the Dog Meat-Free Indonesia coalition.

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Musicians and beauty queen campaign to stop dog meat consumption

Thursday, 31 January 2019

As part of our ongoing campaign, the Dog Meat Free Indonesia coalition held an event in Yogyakarta (“Jogja”) with our wonderful new ambassador for our nationwide campaign, Alya Nurshabrina – “Miss Indonesia 2018” – and the wonderful Indonesian music band “Shaggydog”who have been great ambassadors for our campaign since our launch in November 2018.

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The DMFI journey from launching in 2017 until the one million petition hand-in in November 2018.

Thursday, 24 January 2019

Since launching the Dog Meat Free Indonesia coalition on the 2nd November 2017, with your ongoing support, we have achieved so much for Indonesia’s dogs and cats caught up in the unimaginably cruel and brutal meat trades.

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In Bobby’s Honour

We found Bobby sitting in a wire cage in a busy dog meat market in North Sulawesi whilst we were conducting investigations in December 2017. He was surrounded by scenes from a horror movie, and the terror in his eyes was haunting. We knew we couldn’t leave him.

It breaks our heart that he left this world too soon, but he left having known love and with a name. And in his name, we will never give up until the dog and cat meat trades end throughout Indonesia.

Hero’s Story

The Dog Meat Free-Indonesia coalition spent many long and heartbreaking months investigating the inner-workings of the dog meat trade throughout Indonesia. As people who do what we do because we care so passionately about animals, doing investigations never gets any easier. It is soul-destroying and heart-breaking, but essential in documenting the reality of the trade so that we are best-positioned to fight it, and to ultimately realise our goal of ending the dog meat trade.

But we always save those we can…

On one particular day, we had the chance to save a dog who we named 'Hero'.

Change is coming in Indonesia and throughout Asia… Never before has the dog meat trade or the consumption of dog meat been questioned the way it is now. People are turning their backs on a trade and a practice that can no longer hide behind a defense of ‘culture’ or ‘tradition’.