File photo of activists holding placards during a protest against the consumption of dog and cat meat after Indonesia's Parliament rejected a proposed bill on the ban of dog meat trade and consumption, outside the House of Representatives compound in Jakarta on Nov 21, 2024. - Reuters
JAKARTA: Indonesia's capital Jakarta has banned the selling and consumption of dog, cat and bat meat to prevent rabies transmission, the city's governor announced on Tuesday (Nov 25), in a win for animal rights advocates.
"I have signed the regulation... which prohibits the sale of rabies-transmitting animals for food purposes," Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung said in a statement on social media, a month after promising to do so.
The regulation, which Pramono said he signed on Monday, provides a six-month grace period before it is enforced, according to a document seen by AFP.
Violators could face sanctions, ranging from written warnings to revoking business licenses.
The governor said the ban applies to "live animals, meat, or other products, either raw or processed", and prohibits any "activities related to... rabies-transmitting animals intended for food purposes".
Indonesia is one of a handful of countries that permit the sale of dog and cat meat, but a campaign against the practice has gained ground, with some cities imposing local bans on the trade in recent years.
Animal rights activists hailed the Jakarta ban as a step in the right direction.
"This policy aligns with the mandate of the constitution to protect all Indonesian people and to become a just and civilised nation," advocacy group Dog Meat Free Indonesia said in a statement.
Several dozen Indonesians die of rabies every year, according to the World Health Organization. Indonesia's health ministry reported 25 deaths between January and March 2025.
While dogs are widely viewed as unclean and are rarely kept as pets in Muslim-majority Indonesia, their meat remains a delicacy among some groups.
A cheap source of protein, dog meat is eaten in several other Asian countries. - AFP
