500 stray dogs killed in Telangana to ‘fulfil Panchayat poll promises’
text_fields
Hyderabad: In a disturbing case of animal cruelty, around 200 stray dogs were allegedly killed in Telangana’s Kamareddy district, bringing the total number of dogs killed in the past week to nearly 500, police said on Tuesday.
Sources from local villages claimed that some elected representatives, including sarpanches, carried out the killings to “fulfill promises made to villagers” during the recent gram panchayat elections aimed at addressing the stray dog menace.
Police have registered a case against six persons, including five village sarpanches, for their alleged involvement in the killings.
Earlier, police in Hanamkonda district booked nine individuals, including two women sarpanches and their husbands, in connection with the alleged poisoning of around 300 stray dogs in Shayampet and Arepally villages.
“Ahead of the gram panchayat elections held in December last year, some candidates promised villagers they would tackle the stray dog and monkey menace. They are now allegedly ‘fulfilling’ those promises by killing stray dogs,” sources said.
The carcasses were reportedly buried on the outskirts of villages. Veterinary teams subsequently exhumed the bodies and conducted post-mortem examinations. Viscera samples have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory to determine the exact cause of death and the type of poison used, a senior police official told PTI. Notices have also been issued to the accused.
Animal welfare activist Adulapuram Goutham, who lodged a complaint at Machareddy police station on Monday, alleged that nearly 200 stray dogs were killed over the past two to three days in five villages of Palwancha mandal in Kamareddy district. He claimed the killings were carried out at the behest of the sarpanches, who reportedly hired a person to administer poisonous injections.
Goutham said he visited Bhavanipet village, where he found dog carcasses dumped, and later learnt that similar acts of cruelty had occurred in Palwancha, Faridpet, Wadi, and Bandarameshwarapally villages. Based on his complaint, police registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act against six individuals, including the five sarpanches, a Kamareddy police official said.
In a related case, around 300 stray dogs were allegedly poisoned to death over three days from January 6 in Shayampet and Arepally villages of Hanamkonda district. Police had registered a case against nine persons, including sarpanches, gram panchayat secretaries, and two hired individuals.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would consider directing states to pay “heavy compensation” for dog-bite incidents and hold dog feeders accountable, expressing concern over the poor implementation of norms related to stray animals over the past five years.
With PTI inputs