300 Stray Dogs Found Dead from Poisoning in Southern India

An animals rights activist raised concern on deaths of 300 stray dogs dumped near a lake in southern India's Andhra Pradesh state.

Srilatha Challapalli, a treasurer of the Challapalli charitable trust and Fight for Animals activist alleges poisoning among the street in dogs by Lingapalem village authorities in an attempt to reduce their population in the area.

Ms. Challapalli claims that the local authority hired animal killers to poison the strays on 24^th of July, in Andhra Pradesh's West Godavari district, instead of sterilizing them.

"After receiving the information, I visited the spot and found many dog carcasses. They were in a semi-decomposed state. In my inquiry I found that the Lingapalem local village officials hired some animal killers and injected the dogs with poison and killed them," she said.

The local police in the neighboring Dharmajigudem village are now investigating the case registered under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act against the secretary and the head of the village council.

India's Stray Dogs

India's stray dog population recently increased in popularity in which millions are abandoned in the streets. Although this has been a problem for the country and widely feared because some might carry rabies, most part of India's street dogs are not aggressive and will only bite if provoked.

These homeless dogs scavenge on rubbish and garbage, which on the positive side, reduces perishable waste and lessens dangerous scavengers, such as rats and mice.

Unfortunately, many Indian citizens and officials see street dogs as a nuisance and seeks eradication methods like poisoning and beating. Which is a why a program called animal birth control (ABC) took matters in hand by using a humane method in reducing street dog populations through mass spay and neuters to stop dog breeding which leads to population decline.

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act in India

The police are now carrying out a postmortem on the 300 dog carcasses, after which the bodies were buried in the pits, already in a semi-decomposed state.

"The activist alleges that these dogs were killed by the local village authorities' office. Based on the complaint, we have registered a case and also conducted an inquest. The investigation on the incident is underway, and we are yet to ascertain the facts," a police official from Dharmajigudem said.

Under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act in India, killing or mutilation of any animal, including stray dogs, are prohibited. However, critics of law says it was not carried out tough enough to actually prevent large number of incidents of animal cruelty that occur in the country.

On March 26, an FIR was lodged under IPC Section 429, mischief of killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless any kind of animals of the value of fifty rupees and upwards, or imprisonment, after two stray dogs were killed and died of hypovolemic shock (severe fluid loss), which could or could not be due to poisoning, and hepatotoxicity.