The whole dog is eaten and is a local delicacy
Dog meat is found commonly across Nagaland and to an extent in Mizoram. Since dog meat is common but dogs are not ‘farmed’ as they are say in Korea & China they are smuggled into Nagaland, much as they are from the countryside of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand into China. Reportedly 200+ dogs are smuggled across from Assam into Nagaland each day. In Assam ‘dog catchers’ (working for the smugglers) get about Rs 50/ $1 for a single dog they catch – the same dog is sold wholesale in Nagaland for Rs 1000/ $20. In the streets of Nagaland dog meat sells for Rs 200/ $ 4-5 per kg i.e. roughly Rs 2000/ US$ 40-50 per dog which is an amazing 40-50x from the catchers ‘price’ a hundred kilometers away.
All of the dog is eaten with the head as the prized part of the dog. The reasons for dog-meat are many, and ‘traditional’ in Nagaland – dog meat is relished for its unique ‘pungent taste’, it is thought to work as an aphrodisiac, it’s thought to be a ‘warm’ meat for winters and because it increased iron in a human body!
In these pictures a tribal Naga woman sells dog meat at a daily market in Dimapur, Nagaland.
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- Dogs are transported in gunny bags – first in trucks and then on cycles to local markets
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- Dogs are kept in sacks for transportation and handling
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- Dogs are commonly smuggled from neighboring lower Assam
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- Fur is removed and part cooked using a blow-torch
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- The whole dog is eaten
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- The dog is then ‘dressed’ to be sold in ‘spares’
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- A common and a prized delicacy in Nagaland
