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or generations, certain ethnic groups in this country have included dog meat as part of their culinary culture. Some Batak people are fond of saksang (dog meat sautéed with grated coconut and spices) while among part of the Javanese, sengsu (spicy dog meat with broth) is a popular dish to warm their bodies.

When people migrate to the capital city to realize their dreams, they bring along their eating habits, creating demand that somebody else has to meet as prescribed by the law of economics. It is perhaps unsurprising if the Jakarta Fisheries, Agriculture and Food Security Agency that the city'€™s residents rank among the highest consumers of dog meat in the country.

There are some spots in the sprawling capital city, such as Cililitan area in East Jakarta and Mangga Besar in Central Jakarta, where one can find food stalls selling the dish which many deem uncommon, if not cruel. A dog is a man'€™s best friend, after all.

The Jakarta government seems to be handling the issue with care. On the one hand, it finds it impossible to ban dog meat, not only because there is a real demand, but also because there is no legal basis for such a prohibition. On the other hand, pressures from animal welfare groups have been mounting on the city authorities to stop the practice.

Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said recently that his government would control and monitor the distribution of dog meat, but short stopped of confirming the need for a legally binding regulation.

For Ahok his concern is not the rampant consumption of dog meat, but the reports that many dogs infected with the rabies virus are among those entering Jakartan slaughterhouses. Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN) cofounder Karin Jansen said the group'€™s activists had discussed the matter with Ahok last month, and they expected the governor to issue a regulation that would prevent the spread of rabies. In the eyes of the activists, such regulation could finally justify a ban on dog meat.

The demand for dog meat control has a point, despite the city health agency'€™s claim that Jakarta has been free from rabies since 2004. Thus far there has been no official data concerning dogs in the city, let alone stray dogs, or how many hounds enter the city on a daily basis.

The Fisheries, Agriculture and Food Security Agency head Darjamuni Taseda said that at least 40 living dogs were sent every day from Sukabumi, a West Java town known for its vulnerability to rabies, to Jakarta for consumption. The Sukabumi government has denied the label as a dog supplying region.

Whatever the reason, the move to tighten controls on the dog population is necessary for the sake of human safety. As Dr. Khanchit Limpakarnjanarat, a World Health Organization representative to Indonesia, has put it, Indonesia, including Jakarta'€™s government, still has a lot to do to maintain the progress it has achieved to date, and to reach its target of eliminating rabies in humans by 2020.