JAKARTA: Public order officers in Bali have seized hundreds of dog skewers and dozens of kilograms of raw dog meat on the Indonesian resort island where the trade is illegal, officials said Thursday.
The tourist hotspot banned the dog meat trade last year, with offenders facing up to three months in prison or up to 50 million rupiah ($3,064) fines if found guilty, but the trade still exists in other parts of the country.
During inspections this week authorities found three dog meat sellers who were still carrying out their activities in violation of the local regulation, Bali public order agency head Dewa Nyoman Rai Dharmadi told AFP.
They seized 500 dog meat skewers from a seller in the Jembrana district and 56 kilograms of raw dog meat from another seller in the same district.
The dog satay seller only received a warning because he had not been caught trading before, while the other two sellers were deemed repeat offenders and had minor criminal offences filed against them at a local court.
Authorities were only pursuing minor criminal cases for repeat offenders because they wanted to give dog meat sellers a chance to overhaul their businesses, Dewa said.
“We won’t suddenly take legal action, but we are giving them the chance to know the ban and why it was banned,“ said Dewa.
“But we will process recurrent (sellers) for deterrent effect. We’re not playing around.”
The two sellers will stand trial next month.
Indonesia is one of a handful of countries that still permit the sale of dog and cat meat, but a campaign against the practice has been gaining ground, with some cities including Semarang in Java imposing local bans on the trade in recent years.
