Knocked out with a club and blowtorched ALIVE: How 'hundreds of thousands' of dogs and cats are being cruelly slaughtered for meat in Indonesian markets<br />
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The overpowering stench of charred skin wafts through the 'meat section' of Tomohon market, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.<br />
As flies buzz around the carcasses of dogs, cats, pigs and snakes which are strewn across the blood-stained floor, two teenage girls pick out the dog they want for dinner. <br />
The emaciated dogs cower from the lasso of a slaughterhouse worker who reaches into the metal cage they have been trapped in for days - without food or water.<br />
Their eyes widen with fear as he yanks another pup out by its neck and clubs it over the head until it lies motionless on the ground.<br />
The dog looks dead but dreadful footage, shot only this week, shows the animal frantically kicking out as the market worker fires up a blowtorch and burns it to death.<br />
This dog was among the 'hundreds of thousands' of strays and pets which are inhumanely slaughtered every year to supply Indonesia's dog meat trade, animal protection groups claim.<br />
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The heartbreaking video, and equally disturbing photographs, were taken by Rupert Imhoff, a research officer at the Bob Irwin Wildlife and Conservation Foundation, who flew to northern Sulawesi after he heard that dogs were being beaten and burned to death.<br />
He saw other domestic animals such as cats and rabbits - as well as wild bats, jungle rats, pigs and snakes - suffering the same gruesome fate.<br />
MailOnline has even seen disturbing footage which shows market workers cutting open a cat which had two unborn kittens inside.<br />
Many of the dogs who end up in slaughterhouses are strays and pets. Dog snatchers on motorbikes lasso them around the neck and speed off, animal rights groups have claimed.<br />
Some dogs are captured while their owners are walking them, and a rare few are bought from poor villagers for 'a few dollars'.<br />
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Many Indonesian street dogs are accustomed to people, who feed them 