Carcasses of dogs, crows, cats & pig found in civic staffers’ colony

Pune: About 25 dogs, 30 crows, two cats and a pig were suspiciously found dead on Thursday in the Pune Municipal Corporation employees' colony in Rajendranagar.
It is suspected the dogs were fed chicken laced with poison. Crows, cats and the pig in the vicinity also ate that, causing their death. Burnt carcass of a dog was found, too. Police confirmed to have found carcasses of 10 dogs and 15 crows.

A senior official of the Vishrambaug police station said, "The carcasses of the dogs have been sent for post-mortem. A complaint has been registered under Section 328 of IPC and Section 11 of Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act."

The matter came to light when Rahul Mankar, a resident of the colony, found the carcasses. He filed a complaint with Senadatta police chowky under the Vishrambaug police station. "Around 11am, a few children came to my house and informed me that they had found a few dead dogs and crows. In half-an-hour, we found a few more dogs and crows in the area. Besides, four dead dogs were found on Wednesday morning, buried by the people of the civic body," said Mankar.

Investigations by the activists of Action for Animals against Cruelty and Trauma (AaCT) revealed that the number of dogs and crows killed could be much higher than the official numbers. AaCT India representative Neena Rai, who visited the spot, said, "We have found approximately 25 dogs, 30 crows, two cats and a pig in Rajendranagar. One of the dogs found was burnt. A young boy talked about seeing an old man feeding something to the dogs from a plastic bag around 2am. Pieces of chicken found in the locality would be sent for tests to confirm if they were poisoned."

The NGO found that the residents of the colony had dumped bodies of four dogs in a nearby nullah as they were raising a stink. Rai said all the dogs found dead were sterilized.

"The residents of the colony said there was no dog menace in their locality. But a few residents had complained about the barking of stray dogs. There is also a pig breeding pit nearby, attacked by the dogs," she added.

A second case was filed by the activists of AaCT giving more details about the incident.