Horrifying images of Indonesia’s cat and dog meat markets reveal sickening levels of animal cruelty despite pledge to crackdown

SICKENING images have emerged which show barbecued dogs and cats being sold off in an horrific Indonesian meat market.

Heartless traders are seen blow-torching the animals ALIVE in Tomohon, a city in the north of the island nation.

Horrified animal lovers -  battling to end the barbaric trade - claim some of the animals were still breathing when they were fatally scorched by the flames.

Campaigners from the Dog Meat-Free Indonesia (DMFI) coalition are now urging the local authorities to stick to vows to ban the country'’s archaic dog and cat meat trade.

However, despite the government's pledge, newly released pictures show men holding animals upside down by the legs before bludgeoning them to death with metal poles.

The shocking treatment is not only extremely brutal, but also flouts public health regulations designed to protect locals from rabies.

The images come just a month after the country's Veterinary Public Health boss made a public pledge to end the trade which he called “torture for animals."

Lola Webber, of Dog Meat-Free Indonesia, said “Every single dog and cat we saw at Tomohon extreme market was blow-torched whilst clearly still alive.

"It was the most horrific cruelty we have witnessed so far in our campaign to shut down this hideous trade, and it was all done in full view of very young children.

"By the end of our filming we were all spattered with blood and brain matter from the bludgeoning, showing how easy it would be for customers and tourists to become infected with diseases such as rabies and two of our team were extremely sick following the market visit.

"We are really grateful that the horrific cruelty and human-health risks of this appalling trade has been publicly recognised by the Indonesian government, but our latest evidence clearly shows the need for an immediate ban cannot be ignored."

The sickening trade has sparked both national and global outcry and more than 90 celebrities including Cameron Diaz, Simon Cowell and Ellen DeGeneres have signed a letter highlighting the outrage.

DMFI’s global petition has also been signed by over 940,000 animal lovers from around the world.

Rabies is endemic in 25 out of 34 of Indonesia’s provinces, and dogs and cats of unknown disease status are routinely transported across provincial borders and islands and into densely-populated cities.

This is in clear breach of the law, and threatens those cities and provinces, including Jakarta, that have worked so hard to secure their rabies-free status.

DMFI’s Dr. Katherine Polak says: “As long as the dog and cat meat markets in North Sulawesi continue to drive the illegal trans-provincial trade into densely-populated cities, any attempts by Indonesia to secure its rabies-free status will fail.

"Millions of Indonesian citizens and global tourists could be at risk of exposure to diseases.

"It only takes one lick, scratch or bite from a rabies-infected animal to require prophylactic treatment for rabies which is otherwise a fatal disease.”

The DMFI comprises of the groups Animal Friends Jogja, Jakarta Animal Aid Network, Change For Animals Foundation, Humane Society International, Animals Asia Foundation and Four Paws.