A warning this next report contains some confronting images. For years animal activists have been fighting to end Indonesia’s dog and cat meat trade. One notorious wet market has imposed a ban to help curtail the spread of rabies. But infectious disease experts say bat meat poses an even greater public health risk.
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00:00 Vendor Ravana Meriska is preparing bats for sale.
00:07 We burn them first, then we chop them up, then we boil them. We cook them with coconut
00:13 milk so they'll be delicious in a thick sweet broth.
00:17 They're considered a delicacy in parts of northern Sulawesi.
00:22 People in Manado eat bats because they taste delicious. It's part of the culinary experience
00:28 here. It's rare to find this anywhere else.
00:31 In one town up here, Tomahon, dog meat was also on the menu, but not anymore.
00:37 The local government has agreed to impose a ban after pressure from animal rights activists.
00:42 Dog traders have reluctantly agreed to give their animals to a shelter, freeing them from
00:47 this makeshift slaughterhouse. But even those who want the ban aren't fully confident it
00:52 will work.
00:53 I think the main problem here in Indonesia is always the same, is the law enforcement
00:59 issue, right?
01:01 Despite the public health push on dog meat, it's the trade in bats that continues to flourish.
01:07 At this market, there are hundreds of them on sale, all being prepared for the dinner
01:12 table.
01:14 Scientists have struggled to find conclusive proof about the origins of COVID, but researchers
01:19 have found viruses closely related to COVID-19 in bats.
01:26 Bats contain dangerous pathogens, so there needs to be very careful handling and processing
01:30 to minimize exposure, which is not always the case.
01:34 Veterinary pathologist Agus Setiano says it would be prudent to ban bat meat as well.
01:41 I can't say it's a time bomb, but the fact is wild animals like bats carry zoonotic diseases,
01:48 so we're just waiting for another pandemic to happen again.
01:51 Officials in Tomahon are concerned further bans could hurt people's livelihoods. Traditions
01:58 can be hard to break.
01:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]