This archive report was first published on 11 November 2019.
Deep in rural Cambodia, a thriving dog meat trade has been uncovered, with thousands of dogs being slaughtered every year for human consumption.
Meet Khieu Chan, a 41-year-old dog catcher who has been working in the industry for years. He breaks down in tears as he describes his job, which involves killing up to six dogs a day by slicing their throats.
'Please forgive me,' he says, addressing the 10 dogs awaiting their fate in a cage. 'If I don't kill you, I can't feed my family.'
Animal welfare activists say that the consumption of dog meat has declined in the region as the middle class has grown, with more people owning pets and a greater stigma associated with eating dog.
However, in Cambodia, the trade has flown under the radar, with new research showing a thriving business involving roving dog catchers, unlicensed slaughterhouses, and many restaurants in cities selling 'special meat.'
According to the NGO Four Paws, an estimated two to three million dogs are slaughtered annually in Cambodia, with over 100 dog meat restaurants identified in the capital Phnom Penh and about 20 in the temple town of Siem Reap.
'It has this massive trade,' says Katherine Polak, a Thailand-based veterinarian who works with the NGO. 'Officials were shocked by the magnitude.'
The dog meat trade is not only a moral issue but also a public health crisis, as it carries potentially infected animals all over the country. Cambodia has one of the highest incidence rates of rabies in the world, and most cases are from dog bites.
Researchers say that the trade undermines local canine immunisation efforts by removing and killing vaccinated dogs, and unsanitary slaughterhouses have no safety regulations, with workers wearing no protective gear.
One worker, Pring That, told AFP that he had been bitten by a dog but had not received vaccination because he returned home late at night. Instead, he cleaned the wound with soap and lemon.
Industrial-scale slaughterhouses in developing countries put some distance between workers and animals, but the Cambodian dog trade is hands-on, with workers hanging, strangling, clubbing, or drowning dogs in a pit filled with fetid water.
As the sun rises in a village in Siem Reap, a worker pulls a dog out of a cage and hangs it on a tree branch near drying laundry. After gasping for breath for several minutes, it stops moving and is then placed in boiling water to remove fur and chopped into parts.
Suppliers can earn up to $1,000 in a country where wages in garment factories are under $200, making productivity crucial. 'It's faster to hit them,' explains Dara, a 30-year-old collector, trader, and butcher.
Meat and parts are sold to restaurants, where they are a popular snack or a $1.25 soup. The psychological trauma of bringing cheap meat to the table is immense, and those who find a better job take it.
Khieu Chan, the dog catcher, spoke about meeting Four Paws during their investigation of the trade. In an unconventional twist, they gave him land for farming if he would close his restaurant. He helped the NGO take the sickly dogs out of the cage and sent them to Phnom Penh for treatment, but before they were removed, he knelt by the bars to say goodbye.
'Now you have freedom. You are spared from death,' he says.
