Animal campaigners in Cape Town join global hand in of 700,000 petition signatures to end Indonesia’s cruel dog and cat meat trade

Cape Town, 05 May 2026 - To demonstrate global solidarity to end Indonesia’s brutal dog and cat meat trade, animal campaigners in twelve cities, including Cape Town and across six continents, submitted today a 700,000-signature petition to the Indonesian Consulate.

The petition urges Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto to support the passage of the Animal Protection and Welfare Bill currently being debated, to ban the trade that sees more than a million dogs and countless cats stolen, trafficked and slaughtered for human consumption every year. If passed into law, Indonesia would become the sixth nation or territory in Asia to explicitly ban the cruel trade.

Campaigners from global animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS and Humane World for Animals members of the Dog Meat Free Indonesia coalition submitted the petition at Indonesian embassies and consulates in a dozen countries around the world.

South Africa is home to an estimated 18.6 million dogs and cats dogs and cats. Although there is no trade in dog or cat meat in the country, the law protects them from deliberate cruelty and so petition signers from South Africa have signed in solidarity to afford dogs and cats in Indonesia the same legal protections.

Animal Welfare and Public Health Concerns

The dog and cat meat trade is a significant animal welfare issue in Indonesia involving the suffering and death of large numbers of animals, including stolen pets. Dogs and cats are trafficked across the country to supply markets, slaughterhouses and restaurants where they are slaughtered using crude and brutal methods.

The trade’s mass movement of dogs of unknown disease or vaccination status is also a major human health concern. It facilitates the spread of deadly diseases, including rabies and directly undermines the country achieving its pledge to eliminate rabies by 2030 by bringing infected dogs into previously rabies-free areas.

Dog thieves also remove vaccinated dogs from communities, breaking down ‘herd’ immunity achieved when at least 70% of dogs are vaccinated in each area and which is necessary for rabies eradication.

Global Support for Legislative Change

Campaigners submitted petitions to officials in Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Italy, Mexico, Poland, South Korea and Thailand.

Rebecca Dharmpaul, Dog and Cat Meat Trade specialist from FOUR PAWS, said:

“Dogs and cats are companions, not commodities. They deserve safe, loving homes where they can thrive as valued members of a family. Yet in Indonesia, their legal protection remains dangerously weak, as most animal welfare laws exclude companion animals altogether. This legal loophole leaves millions of dogs and cats vulnerable to cruelty of the trade. The message from around the world is clear, and with a vast majority of Indonesians calling for a ban now is the time for the law to catch up. Passing the Animal Protection and Welfare Bill is not just necessary, it is long overdue.”

Opinion polls nationwide reveal that 93% of Indonesians support a ban on the trade, with just 5.4% having ever consumed dog meat and less than 1% cat meat.

Julie Sanders, Humane World for Animals’ End Dog and Cat Meat director, said:

“A ban on Indonesia’s dog and cat meat trade within the Animal Welfare and Protection Bill is urgently needed to protect public health from zoonotic disease risks and prevent animal cruelty. Our petition hand in across 11 countries demonstrates global solidarity with campaigners and legislators in Indonesia who are determined to end this cruel and dangerous trade, and with pet lovers who are increasingly concerned that their canine and feline companions are at risk of being stolen for the meat trade unless the law makers take action.”

Lola Webber, international director of DMFI, said:

“Our investigations have revealed that hundreds of markets and slaughterhouses across Indonesia are still selling dogs and cats for meat, making this trade a catastrophic threat to animal welfare and rabies elimination efforts. We stand united in our commitment to a dog and cat meat free Indonesia for the protection of animals, public health and communities. Backed by the overwhelming majority of Indonesians who support a ban, and a growing wave of regional action to end the trade, Indonesia now has the public and political support, and the opportunity, to pass landmark, enforceable legislation and bring this cruelty to an end for good.”

Regional Momentum to End the Trade

The bill in Indonesia is being considered at a time when South Korea is preparing for its nationwide ban on the dog meat industry to come into full force in February 2027. The country’s groundbreaking Special Act bans the farming, slaughter and sale of dogs for meat, setting a landmark victory against the trade that campaigners hope Indonesia will follow.

Background

Indonesia is estimated to have a dog population exceeding 16 million, with the majority approximately two-thirds located in rabies-endemic provinces. Conservative estimates suggest that over 1 million dogs and tens of thousands of cats are traded and slaughtered annually in Indonesia for meat.

To date, 121 regencies, cities and provinces across Indonesia have issued local bans on the dog and cat meat trade. The Animal Welfare and Protection Bill, introduced in September 2025, has received cross-party support including from the Golkar Party Faction, National Democratic Party Faction, National Mandate Party Faction and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle Faction.

A Nielsen opinion poll in January 2021, commissioned by DMFI, revealed that 93% of Indonesians support a national dog meat ban, and just 5% have ever consumed dog meat.

An estimated 30 million dogs are brutally killed and eaten each year across Asia in countries including Viet Nam, China, Cambodia, Indonesia and several states in Northeast India.

Across Asia the slaughter and sale of dogs and cats for human consumption is explicitly banned in Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand and South Korea (coming into force 2027). In other countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, while there are no explicit bans, the trade is essentially prohibited under existing animal welfare, animal cruelty and animal or food hygiene laws.

In addition, the trades are banned in two major cities in mainland China (Shenzhen and Zuhai) and the city of Siem Reap in Cambodia.

Dog Meat Free Indonesia is a coalition of international and Indonesian animal protection organizations comprising Jakarta Animal Aid Network, Humane World for Animals, FOUR PAWS, Animals Asia, Animal Friends Jogja and Natha Satwa Nusantara. Since 2017, DMFI has engaged in advocacy, public campaigns and cooperation with central and regional governments to promote policies that protect both animals and people.