KOCHI: Even as the Thrikkakara municipality refuted the allegation of burying as many as 100 stray dogs at its dumping yard adjacent to the municipality after giving poison, a team led by the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) unearthed the carcasses of 42 stray dogs on Saturday.
The SPCA activists- with the help of police, councillors and animal activists-used an earth mover to recover the carcasses which were allegedly buried in a span of nearly 12 months by a four-member team allegedly on the orders of Thrikkakara municipality. The gruesome act surfaced on Friday when a resident of an apartment, residing near the dumping yard of Thrikkakara municipality, shot a video of some people discarding a dog’s carcass in the yard and sent it to an SPCA activist.
“It will be difficult for a normal person to witness such a scene of recovering a massive number of carcasses. What did these dogs do to the people? After digging up one area alone, we unearthed 42 carcasses. We are sure that over 100 dogs have been buried in a similar style at the dumping yard,” said Sajeev T K, secretary, SPCA-Ernakulam.
The carcasses of the dogs were shifted to a veterinary hospital in Kakkanad to carry out autopsy. “Only after the post-mortem will we be able to get clarity on how these people killed the stray dogs. Facilities have been arranged to preserve the inner organs of dogs. It will be handed over to the regional chemical laboratory at Kakkanad for further investigation,” he added.
Meanwhile, the city police arrested a member of the gang -- Shaijon (49) of Morakkala, Perumbavoor. The other three members, all hailing from Kozhikode, are yet to be arrested.