Two pet Labradors locked up in flat for five days rescued

NAVI MUMBAI: Animal activists, with the help of police, on Wednesday rescued two pet Labrador dogs who had been locked up in an apartment in Taloja for nearly five days. The Labradors, around two years old, were visibly tired and weak, said animal activist Sylvia Johnson, who took action on learning about the canines’ pathetic living conditions.
“We had received information from a resident of Greenwood Estate Housing Complex that two pet dogs were barking and crying since five days inside a locked third-floor flat. The flat had been rented by a couple in their early 20s, who would visit the dogs once or twice a week and feed them,” said Johnson. She then approached the New Panvel police.

Senior inspector Ashok Rajput got the flat owner to open the main door using duplicate keys. “The one-room-hall-kitchen apartment was in a mess; there was dog poop and urine everywhere. The tenants had kept a sack of soya bean and just one bowl of water for the two canines,” said Johnson. The police then summoned the tenants. When informed that it is an offence to keep dogs locked up for very long periods of time in flats under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, the couple apologized and agreed to put them up for adoption. “The couple said they had rented the Taloja flat only to keep the pet Labradors as their families had objected to keeping the dogs with them,” said Johnson. “Since they seemed sincerely apologetic for their action, we decided not to lodge a formal police complaint.”