CHENNAI:In a gruesome act, four mongrel dogs were allegedly beaten and burnt to death at Neelankarai Kabaleeshwarar Nagar.On Wednesday, residents of Cross Street, Kabaleeshwarar Nagar in Neelankarai woke up to this news.
“I received a call around 10.30 am from a local resident saying that they spotted a dog that had been brutally killed. After I reached the spot with a friend, we found three other dead dogs and one of them burnt,” said Ricarrdo Raj, who filed a police complaint. “We immediately filed a complaint with Neelankarai police and sent the bodies to the veterinary college for postmortem,” he added.
An FIR has been registered under Section 11 of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act & Section 429 of the IPC.Ricarrdo further said that a few months ago there were a few street dogs missing but this is the first time that these dogs were killed. Police suspect the miscreants could have poisoned the dogs and burnt one of them and also smashed the heads of two others.
Police are scanning CCTV footage to trace the suspects. “We have taken footage from a few houses but did not find any suspicious activities. We have asked residents to alert us if they find any clues,” said a police officer.
“ One of the major reasons an incident like this could happen is because of a possibility of burglary being planned and street dogs are the first to alert us when a new presence is found. However, only after the suspects are traced, we would know,” said a resident.
Another resident Varshini Ravindran said most of the residents are pet lovers and feed street dogs. “The Corporation staff would take the dogs to neuter them and re-locate them to other areas which we opposed and since then the residents would pool in some money and neuter the dogs at private clinics. At least two persons in every lane would ensure the dogs are safe and feed them every day. This incident has shocked us,” she added. On January 31, nine mongrel puppies were allegedly beaten to death by a 35-year-old man who was in an inebriated condition in Anagaputhur.