Hyderabad: In a heinous act of animal cruelty, around 150 stray dogs, including pregnant ones, were allegedly poisoned and dumped in Kongara forest, 40 km from Saroor Nagar. The stray dogs were reportedly picked up from Jilleguda gram panchayat. A police case under section 429 of IPC, 11(1), 11(L) of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act has been booked against ‘unknown accused’.
However, the complainants alleged gram panchayat office staff was behind the killings. The carcasses were taken for post-mortem on Thursday. On the night of May 15, at around 9 pm, A. Padmavati noticed some men catching stray dogs and forcing them into a van. The next morning after searches conducted by animal welfare volunteers and Meerpet police, the dogs were found dead and dumped along with garbage in Kongara forest.
R. Jaideep, a volunteer with People for Animals, said, “We received a complaint from Ms Padmavathi about missing community dogs. The carcasses were shifted to a government veterinary hospital, while a report is awaited.” The FIR issued on May 16 by Meerpet Police (in the possession of this newspaper) says “some people have killed 150 community dogs which are healthy, sterilised and vaccinated. The dogs have been missing since two days, dogs have been poisoned to death and dumped at Kongara forest area.”
Meerpet police authorities have asked Jilleguda municipal commissioner Sri Hari to appear before them. Several attempts by this correspondent to reach the municipal head failed. Sources in the municipality said the action against stray dogs followed increasing dog bite complaints from residents in the panchayat area. D. Joshi, an animal welfare activist, said, “It is a totally unacceptable crime in violation of IPC and PCAA. Apart from police, the accused will be booked by Forest officials for dumping the carcasses in their area.”
