Tomohon, a city in the mountainous region of Indonesia’s North Sulawesi province, is famous for its scenic views, cool climate and colourful flowers.

But it also has a darker side: The city used to be home to one of the most notorious markets in the country, where dogs and cats were slaughtered and sold for human consumption.

For years, animal welfare activists documented and exposed the horrific cruelty and public health risks of the dog and cat meat trade in Tomohon Extreme Market, where living animals were bludgeoned, burned or blowtorched in front of customers.

In other regions of Indonesia, similar but less cruel practices have taken place for decades.

But the tide may be turning, as more and more Indonesians are speaking out.

Animal welfare groups have been campaigning and lobbying for years to end the dog meat trade, and it looks like their efforts are finally paying off.

In July, the mayor of Tomohon issued an order banning the sale and slaughter of dogs and cats in the city, effectively shutting down the trade in the market.

At least 21 cities in Indonesia have issued either directives or local regulations prohibiting the sale and slaughter of dogs and cats for human consumption.

The governor of Central Java province, home to 37 million people, last year issued a circular prohibiting the trade and consumption of dog meat.

One of the main concerns is the risk of rabies, a deadly viral disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans through bites or scratches. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Indonesia has one of the highest rates of human rabies deaths in Asia, with more than 100 cases reported every year.

“Dogs are not livestock. What if the dogs are sick or rabid? Dogs aren’t food,” said Indira Tendi, an animal rights activist who lives in Jakarta.

Eating dogs and cats is considered a violation of Islamic dietary law by many Muslim scholars in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

But it is a tradition for some ethnic groups, such as the Minahasa in North Sulawesi and the Batak in Sumatra.

They believe that eating the animals has medicinal or spiritual benefits. Sometimes, cats and dogs are also served as a delicacy at special occasions, such as weddings or funerals.

Animal rights groups estimate that about 1 million dogs and hundreds of thousands of cats are killed for consumption in Indonesia every year.

In 2018, the central government issued a directive calling on all governors, mayors and district chiefs to discourage trade and consumption.

Lola Webber, a campaign manager at Humane Society International, an international animal protection group, says the order by the mayor of Tomohon saves thousands of dogs and cats each month from being brutally and publicly slaughtered in North Sulawesi.

“It also sets a vital precedent for other cities, regencies and even provinces to follow,” she says.

According to Webber, these actions were influenced by the recognition that dogs are domesticated animals that have been bred for thousands of years to be companions and helpers for humans.

“They have unique personalities and emotions, and can form strong bonds with their owners. They are not meant to be food,” she says.

Meanwhile some traders in Tomohon are unhappy with the ban.

“I have stopped buying and selling dogs completely, although demand is still high,” says Melki Pongo. Before the ban was issued, he had supplied dogs and cats to the market for three decades, he says.

“In Tomohon, a dog sold for 700,000 rupiah (about RM210). We made a big profit as suppliers,” he says.

But animal rights activists stress that the dog meat trade involves the capture, transport, slaughter, and sale of dogs and cats under often unhygienic and illegal conditions.

Adrian Hane, the director of Dog Meat Free Indonesia, a coalition of animal welfare groups, praises the ban in Tomohon as a positive step.

“The regulation is a clear message to the world that Indonesia does not tolerate the cruel and illegal trade of dog and cat meat, which poses serious risks of zoonosis and rabies to the public health,” he says.

He admits that enforcing the regulations was still a challenge, and that some traders and consumers continue to defy the ban.

Solo, a city in Central Java, is still a hotspot for the trade, Hane says, urging the mayor to issue a regulation as well.

“The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated,” he says, quoting Mahatma Gandhi. – dpa/Ahmad Pathoni