Depending on your culture, people eat stuff that others consider to be strange or cruel. In France, Horse meat is common, but in the US it’s illegal because we fell in love with Mr. Ed. In the US, the average American eats over 200 lbs of beef per year, but in India, the cow is a sacred animal and is revered with nearly God-like status. It’s important to know that going in to this story. It’s not that dog is being eaten in Bali. Dog is eaten in a lot of countries. It’s that these dogs are being stolen, killed, and fed to tourists without their knowledge. At least that is what has been found by a new investigation headed up by the ABC (Australian Broadcast System).
In a new report, their investigator infiltrated the stolen dog meat market and witnessed gangs who stole, hunted, poisoned, and killed dogs. That meat is then often sold up to tourists as everything from stir-fry to Satay without the eaters knowing that what they think is pork or chicken is really fido or spot. One organization working with the investigators were able to identify at least 70 restaurants serving up the
meat as well.
While dog meat in and of itself isn’t illegal in Bali, the kidnapping, poisoning, beating, and general murder involved in the acquisition of it is.
On one occasion in particular, the embedded investigator witnessed the gangs laying out fish meat that was tainted with cyanide. For the first time in his career, he switched off his camera as he watched a puppy die over agonizing minutes. He said, “I sat stroking him as he died and found myself apologizing for the cruelty of my fellow man.”
The good news is that one of the biggest Hindu leaders in the nation is working with authorities to end the dog m eat trade. Apparently, Bali Hindus consider dogs to be a holy animal and eating them is greatly upsetting the spiritual community.