The Jakarta administration has postponed its crackdown on stray animals, originally scheduled to start on Tuesday, to find a common solution to prevent overpopulation and keep the city’s 15-year rabies-free status, following a backlash from citizens and animal welfare groups over fears of abuse.

Photos and videos of stray animals caught by city officials have circulated on social media. The officials were seen catching stray cats with nets and putting them in cages together with multiple other animals to be brought to the Jakarta Veterinary Center (Puskeswan) in Ragunan, South Jakarta.

The photos went viral and animal advocates and netizens condemned the raids.

On Tuesday morning, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan announced the city had put the crackdown plan on hold.

“I have instructed related agencies to postpone the plan to catch stray animals and will hold a discussion with animal welfare organizations and communities, and do population control with communities,” Anies said on his Instagram account.

Despite the cancelation of the raids, Jakarta’s five municipalities still conducted a public seminar on rabies prevention and animal adoption as part of the rabies control measures.

“We postponed the raid so we could prepare ourselves to involve stakeholders and collaborate with citizens on how to carry out the raids on stray animals,” Jakarta Maritime, Fisheries and Food Security Agency (KPKP) head Darjamurni said, adding that the agency was often criticized for using a conventional method to capture stray animals using nets.

Darjamurni said the agency would meet animal welfare groups on Jan. 15 to find common ground on how to control rabies and the animal population in the city.

“It will be an open event to figure out the best solution,” he said.

Animals captured in the raids were brought to the veterinary center in Ragunan, where the center would wait for three days for the owners to come and claim their pets.

The head of the agency’s animal health and husbandry division, Renova Ida Siahaan, said if the animals were not claimed after three days, the veterinary center would then treat them, vaccinate them and sterilize them if they were female.

She said the process usually took about two weeks, before the animals were put into the city’s shelter at the veterinary center to be adopted by applicants that the agency had screened.

At the shelter, the animals usually wait for at least two weeks before being adopted.

Animal welfare group Garda Satwa Indonesia secretary Anisa Ratna Kurnia said the raid should not have been conducted in the first place because the method did not protect the animals’ welfare.

“During the raids, the officials must take care of the animals’ well-being. They should not be hungry, thirsty and must be free of stress and disease,” she said.

She added that the main problem was the overpopulation of stray animals, but the city administration’s current method was inadequate to prevent the population growth of the animals.

Anisa said the administration should continue the sterilization program but also return the animals to where they were captured during the raid.

She was aware that the raids were sometimes conducted in response to complaints from residents. “We need to teach locals that it’s okay living side by side with stray animals,” Anisa said.

Irsyara, who keeps up to 50 cats and kittens at her home in West Jakarta, said she was glad the raid had been postponed. She said sometimes cat owners were worried their pets would be among the raided animals as they usually let their cats roam freely due to lack of space in their home.

However, Zakiah Omar, who keeps around 20 stray cats at her house in Ciracas, East Jakarta, said she was okay if the raids continued, given that her house was not on the main road and locals in her neighborhood knew her well.

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