In another breakthrough move towards creating a kinder world for animals, the Mayor of Semarang city in Central Java has announced new regulations explicitly prohibiting the dog meat trade throughout the jurisdiction.

Semarang is the capital and largest city in Central Java, Indonesia. This move makes them the first provincial capital and fifth region in Indonesia to ban the sale and consumption of dog meat.

This momentous decision comes after the Dog Meat Free Indonesia (DMFI) coalition, which Animals Asia is a member of, met with the Head of Semarang City Agriculture Service and his staff last year to discuss the human risks of dog consumption.

A further seminar co-hosted by DMFI was held in which participants from cities and regents across the region attended to discuss the link between the dog meat trade and cases of rabies in humans. 

Dave Neale, Animals Asia’s Animal Welfare Director, congratulated and expressed his gratitude to the Semarang city government, saying, “in taking this bold step to ban the sale and consumption of dog meat, the city of Semarang has demonstrated its commitment to not only protecting the health and wellbeing of its citizens, but to also eradicating this unnecessary and inhumane treatment of companion animals across the region.”

This ban comes hot on the heels of the announcement just last month that Malang City in Java was banning the sale and purchasing of dog meat.

Following the official announcement, DMFI will collaborate with the Semarang City Agriculture Service to create and publish educational materials on the new policies, which will be distributed across the city to educators and professionals. 

DMFI congratulates and is grateful to the Semarang City Government for taking this important and pioneering step towards creating a healthier, kinder and more humane city for its human and animal residents. We hope their actions, along with those of the other cities that have banned dog meat, serve as an example to the rest of Indonesia and indeed the world, and that we will see many more taking the same steps towards ending the dog and cat meat trades once and for all. 

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