NAVI MUMBAI: A major fire following burning of dry grass led to the death of four newborn puppies in Kharghar near Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra's Raigad district on Wednesday afternoon.
Several trees were also damaged.
While the mother dog managed to escape the fire, she could not save her pups even though she tried to shift them to another sIte behind Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Engineering building, where the grass burning took place in sector 7.
A TOI photographer who was present on the spot at the time of the fire took photos of the charred bodies of the pups.
Animal activist Vijay Rangare of People for Animals (PFA, Unit-2) said that he has contacted the Kharghar police in order to lodge an FIR in this matter.
"Every year during this time, some unknown people burn dry grass which results in a lot of smoke and air pollution. Green trees also get damaged while at times animals like cats and puppies living there are also killed. This madness of burning dry grass must be stopped by the authorities," said Rangare.
Recently, dry grass burning was also seen along the Harbour Line railway track in Seawoods and at the Jewel of Navi Mumbai public park in Nerul.
Earlier, in another location of Kharghar, wildlife species like mongoose and reptiles were found to be burnt to death due to such dry grass burning incidents.
Local residents said that they have often called the fire brigade as well as the forest department officials whenever such fires are noticed in the developed nodes or along the hill slopes, but it is often a case of too little too late.
While the Kharghar fire brigade personnel rushed to the site in sector 7 on Wednesday, smoke and minor flames due to restarting of the fire in an area of 10 acres continued for several hours.