Investigating the origins and control of rabies outbreaks in Indonesia

Canine rabies has had a varied and somewhat unpredictable presence in Indonesia. The remote eastern province of Maluku was historically free of rabies until 2003 when the first outbreak occurred in the provincial capital of Ambon Island.

Despite government efforts (dog vaccination, some culling and public education) rabies is now considered endemic in Ambon. Nevertheless, further outbreaks between 2010 and 2012 in more isolated south-western Maluku were unanticipated and concerning. As an anthropologist with expertise in the Maluku region I visited rabies-affected locations in the province in 2013 to investigate dog-keeping and dog-movement as context for understanding recent outbreaks of the disease.

Map of Indonesia, showing the islands of Maluku Province (coloured green) The arrow points to Ambon Island.  Source: Wikipedia

Information obtained through community-based interviews with current and former dog-owners suggested that the main movement of dogs in Maluku is into Ambon. This is driven by comparatively high demand and high prices for the animals, linked to the consumption of dog-meat.  Dog-meat is not a critical component of local diets, but consuming dog-meat (alongside pork) forms a key symbol of Christian identity. In Ambon, dog-meat has developed a particularly strong association with specific religious celebrations, especially baptism and confirmation.

That association has boosted demand in a period when dog-numbers are reportedly decreasing. One significant cause is a decline in hunting, which forms a major traditional rationale for keeping multiple dogs. In Ambon, dog numbers have been further reduced by local culling in response to the 2003 rabies outbreak and by continuing reluctance to keep dogs due to concerns about financial liability and social tensions in the event of accidental dog-bites. Bite victims routinely seek post-exposure rabies vaccinations, even when the offending dog has itself been vaccinated. Strong social norms hold the animal’s owner responsible for the expense, which is costly in local terms. As a result of such factors, dog prices in Ambon have reached an all-time high.

Another noted trend is that the proportion of dogs being kept solely as pets is on the increase, particularly among educated, salaried professionals – a fashion that appears to be spreading to more remote areas. The number of professionals in Maluku has been bolstered by national support for regional autonomy, leading to new administrative centres emerging in previously remote corners of Maluku. The new centres are keen to develop port facilities to link local populations with regular shipping routes (the main form of inter-island transportation) carrying goods and passengers.

So Maluku is experiencing growing mobility and growing numbers of dogs as pets not used for consumption. Together, these dynamics increase the potential for dogs to move in unpredictable directions. Small dogs and puppies in particular are carried surreptitiously on major passenger ships that prohibit livestock. Two of the three recent rabies outbreaks in previously unaffected island groups in south-western Maluku (Tanimbar and Babar) have been linked to pet dogs carried on regular passenger ships from rabies-affected areas (respectively, from Ambon and from post-outbreak Tanimbar).

A passenger ship docks at a wharf in southwest Maluku. Photo: Phillip Winn

Unfortunately, enforcing official restrictions on the movement of dogs through remote local harbours in Maluku faces a range of difficulties that likely render such measures unfeasible in practical terms. Dog vaccination programs also face practical impediments. Increasing community awareness of rabies among Maluku communities will be critical for future disease prevention both in affected and currently rabies-free localities. 

There are opportunities to achieve this. I encountered many ordinary Malukans who demonstrated knowledge of the signs of a rabies-affected dog and wound-cleansing measures for dog-bites, often as a result of government education efforts. As yet, basic understandings of disease transmission and progression appear far less developed, even within affected communities, feeding myth and misunderstanding. But dog-owners in Maluku express ready interest in accurate information.  And while owners of hunting dogs and animals intended for consumption sometimes raised concerns about rumoured impacts of rabies vaccine, owners of pet dogs appeared generally receptive to the idea. 

Contributed by Dr Phillip Winn, ANU College of Asia & the Pacific, The Australian National University. You can email Dr. Winn here or here. Formal publications on this work are being prepared.