Indonesian wet markets continue to sell dogs and cats alongside bats despite coronavirus pandemic
Dogs, cats, and other rare animals are still being sold in live markets in northern Indonesia. The Tomohon Extreme Market is notorious for being very cruel to animals by the market stallholders. Various species of animals laying next to each other in a hot, moisture-rich environment risk the spread of disease, all over again.
Scientists had argued that the Indonesian markets were in a similar setting in Wuhan, China from where the coronavirus emerged. At the start of April, Operatives for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) visited the wet market located in Tomohon and another one located in Bangkok, Thailand.
PETA had found people walking around in flip flops across blood-soaked floors and handling pigs'raw flesh with their bare hands with no gloves or protection. There was also blood and rotting flesh covered the floors and countertops as dead animals such as dogs, pigs, and a snake lay dead with flies buzzing around.
Chickens and cats were seen awaiting being slaughtered stuffed into cramped up cages. Bags of live frogs were seen lying next to dead frogs' mutilated bodies. According to a bat seller, Sternly Timbleng has said that the pandemic had not affected sales and that he is 'always sold out'. He sells around 50 to 60 a day but can sell as many as 600 of the winged animal in a day during the festive period. Alf Jacob Nilsen shared that he felt that the cruelty shown by the stallholders was performative when he went to the markets.
Nilsen spoke to the Mail Online and said, "The treatment and killing of dogs the way it happens in Tomohon now should from my point of view definitely stop. Not only because the poor animals are treated in a most brutal way and definitely suffer, but also because there must clearly be a risk of spreading parasites and serious diseases when dealing with dogs and dog meat in this way."
"It is terrible to see caged stray dogs being pulled out of their cage and hammered to death with wooden batons," Nilsen shared. PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk shared that the market should be shut down in order to avoid another deadly pandemic. Newkirk added, "The next pandemic is right around the corner as long as sick and stressed animals are crowded together in blood-soaked meat markets. PETA is calling on the World Health Organization to help shut down these dangerous operations, whether they're killing chickens in New York or cats in Indonesia."
We had previously reported that the city of Wuhan, China recently lifted its month-long lockdown against COVID-19. However, the future of these businesses looks very uncertain given only a few customers buying what they offer as the virus stigma keeps people away.
A fish shop worker who only shared her last name, Zhang, revealed, "There is no business and no one is coming. Everywhere is blocked and people cannot come in. Everyone is scared to go out and contract the virus," Reuters reports.
A vegetable and meat vendor at the wet market added, "This is a person-to-person virus, no matter where you are. Even the supermarket is full of people. Here people are more scattered. As long as we take precautionary measures, and we pay attention to disinfecting, it should be fine."