BENGALURU: 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 in the village.