Dogs
A dog nurses her puppies in Tunis, Tunisia, October 1, 2016. Reuters/Zoubeir Souissi

A major investigation has found that Australian visitors in Bali were unknowingly being fed dog meat. Animals Australia (AA) led the investigation that exposed the brutal dog meat trade in the famous holiday destination that is visited by over 1 million Australians annually.

Warning: Article contains content that may be distressing to some readers.

The undercover investigation has exposed that dogs are brutally caught and butchered. Dog meat is being sold on the street and even in restaurants.

An undercover investigator for Animals Australia has broken into the dog meat trade in Bali. He called himself Luke to protect his identity. After four months of investigation, he found that dogs are being bludgeoned to death, hung, poisoned or shot. Proof was provided to ABC’s 7.30 program.

An eighty-three-year old dog catcher revealed he has killed thousands of dogs by himself. “Twelve a week,” he said.

Luke said that catching was “fiercely aggressive.” He revealed, "The dogs screamed and writhed as the noose strangled them." Some Balinese villagers help in capturing dogs, and they are being paid for doing so.

The dogs are then taken into small cages and are left to lie in their faeces and urine. Some are killed using a metal pole. Others are poisoned by food laced with cyanide, hung from trees or shot.

Luke shared that some dogs try to escape by biting through the ties. However, their attempts are useless since their muzzles are lashed. The operation was far worse than he thought. As an animal investigator, he trained himself to cope with cruelty, but he admitted nothing has prepared him for the “brutal catching of dogs in the village.”

Dog meat is usually offered to tourists who have no idea they are eating an animal known as a family pet at home. When Australian tourists ask if they are ordering a satay chicken, not dog, most vendors reply, “no, not dog.”

Some vendors admit they sell dog meat. A street vendor behind 66 Beach in the tourist area of Seminyak in southern Bali told Luke that he’s selling “dog satay.”

Health professionals have raised concerns for tourists surrounding the dog meat trade. New South Wales Poisons Information Centre director Andrew Dawson warned that if a dog is poisoned with cyanide, there will be cyanide throughout the animal’s body, news.com.au reports.

Eating dog meat is legal on the Indonesian island. Some locals even believe dog meat is good for their health.

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