THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A high-level meeting convened by chief whip Thomas Unniyadan here on Wednesday has concluded that there were no legal impediments to culling ‘dangerous’ stray dogs. “The only way to rid the state completely of the stray dog menace was to kill dogs that exhibit aggressive behaviour or are suspected to be infected with rabies,” an official statement issued after the meeting stated.
The chief whip said that local bodies in the state were under the impression that the Supreme Court had issued an order against the killing of stray dogs. “It is this perception that has made them reluctant to act effectively against the stray menace,” Mr Unniyadan said.
The chief whip also said that the report of the legislative committee on stray dog menace had not recommended ‘culling’ as a solution because, like the local bodies, the committee too had supposed that there was a Supreme Court verdict against it. The legislative committee had recommended vaccination, sterilisation and licensing as the chief solutions.
Senior officials at the meeting had raised doubts about the culling solution. Putting doubts to rest, law secretary B.G. Hareendranath said that a High Court division bench verdict had made it clear that no legal hurdles have been put in the way of killing dangerous stray dogs. In their 2006 order, Justices V.K. Bali and J.B. Koshy had stated that animals including dogs could be killed for the safety of humans. The meeting also concluded that the sterilisation drive did not yield the desired results.
