BENGALURU/DAVANGERE: In a case of gruesome animal cruelty, 150 stray dogs were poisoned to death and hastily buried at Belagutti village in Davangere district on Saturday. The Belagutti Gram Panchayat has been accused of carrying out this heinous crime and an FIR has been lodged at the Nyamathi police station.
After a video of a couple of stray dogs dying after being injected with a toxic substance surfaced on social media, Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA) Bengaluru, an animal welfare organisation decided to take up the case.
The video depicts a stray wagging his tail at his killer as he is injected. “It was cruel beyond compare. The dogs were just piled up, they were not even buried properly. Most of them have decomposed due to the poison and only about 80 carcasses could be taken out for post-mortem. The panchayat has done this in an attempt to get rid of strays in the area,” said Harish K B, an animal welfare officer working with CUPA.
Sources said due to an increase in attacks of stray dogs on people, children, women and even cattle during the night, there was tremendous pressure on the gram panchayat to tackle the issue and hence, they took such a drastic step.
Hanmanthappa, a sub-inspector at the Nyamathi police station, admitted to the culling, saying there were several cases of dog bites and rabies outbreak in the village.
“We had 4-5 dog bite and rabies cases. The elected members of the gram panchayat decided to cull all the strays in the village.” The case was registered on Monday and the investigation is still under way.
While villagers admitted that there were many cases of dog bites, some of them disapproved of the means adopted to tackle the issue. “The panchayat paid `150 to cull each dog. They killed them, piled them up and did not even bury them. The animals just rotted in the open with no dignity,” a villager said.
According to Dog Rules 2001, framed by the Centre which is in line with the WHO’s Animal Birth Control programme, instead of culling the canines, they should be sterilised and immunised. Incidentally, according to the Prevention of Cruelty Act, 1960 Section 11, the fine for killing or maiming an animal is a meagre `50.
What if strays have rabies?
Legally, if a stray is suspected of having rabies, the local animal welfare authorities must be informed, said Ritika Goel, director of People for Cattle India and founder of Bengaluru Opts to Adopt. “The residents must contact the NGO or the Animal Birth Control Centre in their respective cities or areas. Bengaluru has an ABC programme that is headed by Sarvodaya.
The dog should be kept for observation for 10 days as per the directives in the Indian Constitution. If the dog is rabid, he will die automatically in those 10 days. They are otherwise euthanised once proven rabid,” she said. She also added that the lack of ABC programmes in panchayats is one of the major causes of these killings. “The elected members of the panchayat must be held responsible for atrocities like these,” she said.