TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Eight dogs laid helplessly in a cage, with their four legs and bodies tied with ropes.
Sixty-eight-year-old Sukijo, a dog-meat tongseng or sensu seller, put one of the dogs in his backyard. He then hit the dog’s head with a 1-meter long log. The dog made a faint sound before Sukijo landed a second punch until it passed out. According to Sukijo, the process will make slaughtering easier.
The father of two then undid the tie. He skinned the 12-kilogram dog skillfully with the help of his wife. He then sorted the meat parts and brought the edible meats to the front of his house.
Sukijo believes that sengsu is good to heal various illness.
“It can cure diabetic, also makes the brain smarter,” Sukijo said.
He said that one his customer can’t move his leg after an accident, “But after eating sengsu, his leg back to normal.”
Sukijo is not the only sengsu in Kanutan hamlet, Bantul. Seventy-two-year-old Temu is the first man who sells dog meat in 1961.
“I am the first sengsu seller in Bantul,” Temu said to Tempo.
In a day, Temu can slaughter two to three dogs. He guaranteed that the slaughtering and cooking process are clean. Temu claimed to receive dog supply from Purrworejo. One portion of the dog meat is sold for Rp12,000.
“After being slaughtered, the blood is all beld out. Customers don’t like red meat.”
The myth of dog meat as a cure for illness is denied by nutritionist from Gadjah Mada University Lily Arsanti Lestari. On the contrary, Lily stated that the dog blood and meat contains risk of patogenic microbes such as E. Coli and salmonella that can cause diarrhea and typhoid. There is also risk of getting rabies from eating dog.
According to Lily, there had not a single research linking to dog-meat consumption with curing effect ever existed.
“If some people say it can boost vitality or healing illness, it is only a myth,” said Lily who added that dog is not categorized as cattle, “Therefore, there is no standard and monitoring for it.”
VENANTIA MELINDA | ALI NY
