We’re excited to share a major breakthrough in Central Sulawesi: Parigi Moutong Regency has issued official circulars (Surat Edaran) that explicitly prohibit the trade, slaughter, and distribution of dogs and cats for consumption, and mandate enforcement and monitoring by local authorities.
This is a critical step forward in our fight to end the dog and cat meat trade across Sulawesi – one of Indonesia’s largest hubs for the supply, slaughter, and consumption of dogs and cats.
Parigi Moutong sits along one of the main trafficking routes supplying North Sulawesi’s infamous markets and network of slaughterhouses. For decades, dogs and cats have been transported through this corridor into a system of live animal markets and slaughterhouses, where thousands are brutally killed every month.
By strengthening enforcement in Parigi Moutong, we are stopping this suffering at its source.
The directives also require local authorities to actively monitor and shut down these activities and empower communities to report violations – turning policy into real enforcement on the ground.
What We’re Doing – and Why it Matters
In June 2025, Lady Freethinker’s investigations exposed the brutal reality within live-animal markets in Sulawesi. Thousands of dogs and cats are slaughtered there each month, each enduring unimaginable suffering: confined in filthy cages, forced to hear the screams and witness the slaughter of other animals, and left waiting in fear amid the smell of blood and death, knowing their turn is coming.
These findings revealed not only the extreme cruelty of the trade, but also its scale – and the urgent need for systemic intervention.
In response, Lady Freethinker launched PROJECT Sulawesi in July 2025, in partnership with Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN) and Bali Animal Welfare Association (BAWA).
The initiative was designed to tackle the problem at its root, dismantling the system that sustains these markets and slaughterhouses. Instead of reacting to the trade, we are preventing it – reducing the number of animals entering the system in the first place. This is what makes the difference.
Working across Central Sulawesi and Gorontalo, we are:
· Closing trafficking routes by supporting local and provincial bans and strengthening enforcement in key regions like Parigi Moutong
· Stopping disease spread by vaccinating 70% of the dog population – the threshold needed to eliminate rabies, which is exacerbated by the dog meat trade and causes human and countless animal deaths each year
· Intercepting the trade by building, renovating, and staffing border checkpoints along major transport routes
· Driving lasting change through public awareness, community engagement, and strong coordination with government authorities – ensuring enforcement and addressing the root causes that sustain this trade
Real Impact
The new directives in Parigi Moutong are a direct result of this strategy in action – creating real, daily impact for dogs and cats at risk of being taken by traders across Sulawesi.
Already, fewer dogs and cats are being stolen and sold. Fewer are entering markets and slaughterhouses. And as a result, fewer are suffering. Traders are facing increased restrictions, oversight, and risk.
But we will not stop until no dogs or cats are stolen or sold, none are transported into markets or slaughterhouses, and no animals suffer in this trade.
Because of You
This progress is only possible because of your support. Together, we are shutting down trafficking routes, strengthening enforcement, and bringing a permanent end to this trade – one critical region at a time, where animals need us most.
