Dog meat market in Manado, Sulawesi Island, Indonesia

Next to the dog meat stand at the market, there were cages with live dogs waiting to be slaughtered. They did not look like the farmed dog that I saw in Vietnam, but rather looked like skinny stray dogs. It was hard to look at them, some were resigned and calm, some were biting their metal cages.

After being slaughtered, the dog carcass is singed with a blowtorch, to remove the fur.

Then their are eviscerated and sold by the pound, just like any other animal meat sold at the meat market. The dog guts, cleaned and sorted, are sold too, separately.

For Muslim people, dogs are considered impure and they are also haram (not to be consumed as food). But Indonesian Christian minorities, for example in Manado (North of Sulawesi Island) consume dog meat. It is totally legal there, and there are dog meat stands in the meat market, just like in Vietnam.

Background:

Modern western culture considers that eating a dog is cruel, barbaric and disgusting (generally not illegal, though).

But for the vast majority of people on earth, cultural values are very different. Dog meat is considered a delicacy in some Asian cultures, and indeed cooked dog meat is very tasty and protein rich.

Ironically we (westerners) have no problem eating all other sorts of animals as long as they are not traditionally used as pets. I think if westerners had to slaughter the animal themself each time they want to eat meat, there would be a lot more vegetarians! Most people would not even want to kill a chicken!

See more info, photos and comments in the dog meat photo album

For more info about eating dog meat:

- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_meat