Dog Meat Sale Banned in Bali

This week, Balinese governor I Made Mangku Pastika AO issued a decree to ban the sale of dog meat on the island nation. The initiative to end the sale came from activist efforts by Animals Australia, which launched a four-month investigation that revealed tourists in Bali, particularly from Australia, might have unknowingly been eating dog meat. The organization pressured the government to instate the decree after gathering more than 170,000 signatures from international residents on its petition against the dog meat trade. “This is a momentous decision by Governor Pastika that will not only spare many thousands of dogs from terrible suffering but will help to restore the positive relationship the Balinese people have enjoyed with their unique heritage dogs for centuries,” Animals Australia’s Chief Investigator Lyn White said. While the decree outlaws the sale of dog meat in Bali and pushes for education regarding the dog meat trade, consumption of the animal product is still legal. Various animal-rights organizations, including Animals Australia, hope that Bali’s stance will resonate with other nations that still allow the sale and consumption of dog meat. While dogs are seen as companion animals by many nations, other intelligent animals exploited for food—such as cows, chickens, fish, and pigs—do not have equivalent protections to what Bali has instituted in place in any region of the world.