Indonesian 'dog doctor' rescues canines from pandemic peril

Susana Somali holds a dog at her rescue shelter. Pic/AFP

Indonesian doctor Susana Somali and her staff have been cutting tightly-bound plastic ropes off dozens of whimpering dogs rescued from the butcher's block after being sold or abandoned during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Somali's sprawling Jakarta complex, home to about 1,400 canines, has become a refuge for at-risk animals as cash-strapped owners sell them into the Southeast Asian nation's controversial dog meat trade.

Mostly acting on tip-offs, Somali and her team hit the streets looking for stray dogs and butcher shops, where more and more doomed animals are spending their last days howling in cramped cages.

Somali, who juggles a day job testing COVID-19 samples at a local hospital, started the shelter more than a decade ago. "The real battle isn't rescuing them from butchers, although that is always scary. The challenge is taking care of these dogs during the pandemic," Somali said.

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