The Nagaland government has decided to ban the commercial import and trading of dogs and dog markets and also the sale of dog meat, both cooked and uncooked, state chief secretary Temjen Toy announced on Twitter on Friday afternoon.
The Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisation (FIAPO) had urged the state government to immediately ban the slaughter of dogs and enforce the stringent animal welfare laws.
“We are writing with deep concern, shock and horror at recent images that have emerged from ‘animal bazaar’ markets in Dimapur where dogs are seen in terrified conditions, tied up in sacks, waiting at a wet market, for their illegal slaughter, trade and consumption as meat,” FIAPO legal manager Varnika Singh wrote to Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio in a letter.
Dogs are regularly smuggled from Assam and West Bengal into Nagaland.