International stars of acting, music and sports have urged Indonesia’s president to ban what they say is a brutal trade in dog and cat meat for human consumption.
The appeal comes after Indonesian campaigners against animal cruelty and Humane Society International in January exposed markets on the island of Sulawesi where dogs were bludgeoned by the thousands and blow-torched alive to remove their hair before onlookers, including children.
The letter to Indonesian President Joko Widodo released yesterday said if Indonesia joined other Asian nations that have already banned the cruel trade, it would be “celebrated globally” and end a stain on the country’s reputation.
The coalition of campaigners, calling itself Dog Meat-Free Indonesia, also warned of health risks posed by the trade due to its potential to spread rabies.
“These animals, many of them stolen pets, are subjected to crude and brutal methods of capture, transport and slaughter, and the immense suffering and fear they must endure is heartbreaking and absolutely shocking,” the letter said.
Actress Cameron Diaz, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, talent spotter Simon Cowell, comedian Ricky Gervais, Indonesian pop singer Anggun and musician Moby are among the more than 90 celebrities listed in the letter.
Dog meat is eaten by only a small percentage of Indonesians.
Thousands of dogs and cats are slaughtered weekly in North Sulawesi, most of which are imported from other provinces in Indonesia, the anti-cruelty groups said.
After the blaze of bad publicity in January, the infamous Tomohon Extreme Market in North Sulawesi stopped the public slaughter of dogs, but video shot by campaigners showed dog carcasses were still being delivered from other locations.
“We are so grateful to these global and Indonesian superstars who have come together to support Dog Meat-Free Indonesia’s efforts to end this cruel and dangerous industry,” Humane Society International president Kitty Block said in a statement.
“We respectfully urge President Widodo to work with us on a solution that protects not only Indonesia’s dogs and cats but also the health of its people,” she said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing