Puppy dies, Uruli staff face probe

Local filmed the incident as panchayat employees dumped dogs in garbage van

Lack of knowledge of animal protection act and rules while handling strays have led employees of Uruli Kanchan gram panchayat in serious trouble. The employees, attached with the panchayat’s solid waste management department, allegedly snatched five puppies from the custody of a dog that dropped the litters and further ‘threw’ all five in the garbage van ‘like a ball’ with an intention to unload them at the waste dumping site.

One of the puppies was found dead at the village’s dumping site. However, four others were reunited with their mother by animal activists’ group in the village. The ‘throwing’ episode was filmed by one of the citizens who spotted the entire scene of lifting the puppies from the custody of their mother. He later submitted the complaint to the authorities demanding to take action.


Seeing the insensitive approach of the employees in the video, the animal activist also swung into action and raised a written complaint with the civic body, demanding the action under various sections of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and the Animals Protection Act, 1962. The activist suspected that the death of the puppy might have occurred while unloading the garbage at the dumping site.

No official criminal complaint was registered with the Loni Kalbhor police till late in the evening on Saturday.

Talking to Mirror, one of the citizens said, “A dog had delivered five puppies near the gram panchayat office. Crying of puppies and the barking of their mother were disturbing the residents. After receiving calls from some of the locals, the solid waste management team rushed to the spot as no official dog squad was formed. Not aware of any rule, they lifted the puppies from the custody of their mother. The mother was crying to get back her child, but the emotionless employees threw them one after one inside the garbage van. The van was unloaded near the garbage dumping site in Uruli Kanchan where the puppy might have died due to suffocation and load of waste.”


Khalil Shaikh, animal rights activist from the village, said, “Due to complete lack of knowledge about the dog rescue operation, the employees only followed the instruction of their superior and snatched the babies from their mother which was against the law. A puppy was later found dead. We have demanded inquiry of this entire thing to avoid a replica of this incident in future. We rescued other puppies and dropped back to the mother. We have decided not to escalate the issue as it was first such case reported from the village and it was an act out of illiteracy about the norms and guidelines while handling the animals. We have now decided to train the staff in case a similar situation emerges in the future.”

Yashwant Dolas, village development officer of Uruli gram panchayat, said, “We have received the complaint from citizens and animal activists. We have initiated an inquiry into the entire case. We learnt that the mother of puppies was chasing the employees when the staff were lifting those. Out of fear of abite from their mother, they panicked and threw puppies inside the garbage van. Once the outcome of inquiry, we will take further course of action.”

Uruli Kanchan is one of the richest panchayats in the district, located just 20 km from Pune.