Carcasses of nearly 90 stray dogs were found in Buldhana district of Maharashtra on Sunday, shocking locals and animal lovers. But what appeared to be a case of animal brutality might be a cover-up attempt by a municipality, suspect the police.
Officers probing the mass killing of dogs said they canines could have been culled by a local body that failed to check the stray population through legitimate means such as sterilisation. The carcasses were then dumped outside their jurisdiction.
"I am very sure the municipalities in Buldhana are not involved in this mass killing. We are probing whether the civic bodies of neighbouring districts like Jalna and Aurangabad are involved. This is one of our angles of investigation," said Dilip Bhujbal, superintendent of police of Buldhana.
The case came to light after villagers living close to the Girda-Savaldabara Road complained of foul smell filling the area. Other than the carcasses, the police also found about 10 dogs that were alive. According to animal activists, the number of the slain dogs is much higher.
"The investigation will be streamlined once the post-mortem reports are in. There could be other reasons as well. This could also be the doing of a person or a group of people," said Bhujbal.
Killing No Solution |
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| Activists, who too believe in the cover-up theory, say killing strays is no solution to check their population as killing dogs is illegal |
| Meet Ashar of PETA said there are too many strays out in the open that can procreate, as he stressed the need to sterilise them |
Animal activists too believe in the cover-up theory. "We have urged the police to explore all possible angles to this illegal massacre including if the local authorities had any role in it," said Meet Ashar, an animal welfare officer with PETA.
He said it is the duty of the municipality to sterilise the dogs and control their population. Doing anything else is illegal."
Ashar said it is illegal to kill dogs or harm them in any way. "If anyone thinks by doing so will control the stray population then it won't happen because there are many that are not sterilised and are capable of procreating," said Ashar.
The animal activist said nearly 200 dogs were poisoned and that the complaint was filed only for 90. "This horrific incident is exactly why PETA India urges the public to report incidents of animal cruelty so that the perpetrators can be punished."