M

enik Estuningtyas, 25, remembers the day she watched a neighbor’s dog get abused when she was a child.

“It was back in 2005 or 2006. I was riding my bike in the afternoon with my friends around our housing complex in Karawaci, Tangerang. We saw a crowd in front of my neighbor’s house. They said my neighbor’s dog had bitten a baby’s cheek and that they had come to torture the dog to death,” she said.

Menik remembered the devastating look on the face of the dog owners, two sisters who could only console each other while watching their beloved dog getting clubbed by a crowd of men, some armed with stones and bats.

“It was a big crowd. Not all came to kill the dog. Some just stood by, watching,” Menik said. The crowd then took the dog to an empty lot and killed it there.

“It was something horrifying and new for me. I remember the details and how terrifying it was,” she said.

Despite rising awareness on animal welfare, animal abuse cases are rarely taken to court, even though there are laws against animal cruelty, including Law 18/2009 on husbandry and animal health, as well as Article 302 of the Criminal Code on animal cruelty.

The public usually only reacts when the ill treatment of animals goes viral.

Just recently, a man was recorded riding a motorbike while dragging a cat in Pekalongan, Central Java. After being uploaded, the video gained public attention and was condemned by the majority of online commentators. Pekalongan Police did not arrest the man and instead carried out a psychological test on the alleged perpetrator.

Writer and animal lover Alberthiene Endah regrets the lack of law enforcement on animal abuse and society’s lack of sensitivity toward animal welfare.

“In Indonesia, animal abuse is only considered a show and will probably be copied by other people,” she told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

It is a shame that animal welfare is not included in elementary school curriculum, she said.

“Loving animals should be taught to children starting in elementary school, because it is common for parents to lack sensitivity toward animals,” Alberthiene said.

“Many mothers may not be bothered by seeing their children throwing stones at cats. They do not think that such behavior may be the start of sadistic behavior, which may lead to hurting fellow humans in the future,” she explained.

Not only that, Alberthiene regrets that many parents still book monkey shows for children’s entertainment.

“They do not care that monkeys are tortured for months while training for a dance routine,” she said. “Many parents also like to take children on horse carts or have them ride elephants and camels at the zoo, or take them to dolphin shows.”

As many parents lack sensitivity toward animals, schools and the government are key actors in the promotion of animal welfare and putting an end to animal abuse, she said.

Previously, animal welfare group Garda Satwa Indonesia’s secretary, Anisa Ratna Kurnia, said that it had reported several cases of animal cruelty to the police but none of them had been followed up. "We have filed [police] reports multiple times but none of them have been taken to court because the law is weak."

Anisa added that in 2016, the group had reported an animal abuse-related case that occurred in Majalengka, West Java. However, the investigation focused on animal shelter mismanagement instead of animal cruelty.

Aside from animal abuse, Alberthiene also said the government should pay attention to rampant dog meat trade in several areas such as Tangerang, Bekasi, Pondok Labu and Cililitan —among other places, where dogs were reportedly kidnapped and collected to be slaughtered.

“Dogs are captured, dragged and thrown into a truck,” she said.

Alberthiene also criticized the overbreeding of dogs that were in high demand.

“They are forced to mate and give birth. If they are not sold as puppies, they are sold to dog meat traders,” she said.