“A dog is a man’s best friend.”

All of us grew up listening to this quote. And indeed, dogs are one of the most loyal animals on Earth. US psychiatrists have started advising lonely or depressed patients to get themselves a pet dog or a rabbit to get rid of their mental illnesses, instead of prescribing medicines for them.

But then, I woke up to a piece of news that left me horrified, devastated and terrified of human nature. And I am sure that the readers would feel the same after getting to know about it.

2 resident nursing students killed 16 puppies in Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College, one of the premier state-run government medical college cum hospital in the state of West Bengal. The puppies allegedly disturbed them and bit them outside their residing hostels, and this continued for days. So they decided to solve the problem themselves in the most inhuman manner possible – by killing them.

Also Read: Monkey Mantra: The Key to Freedom of Expression

What exactly happened?

The 2 nursing students gave food to the puppies and attracted them to a single place. Then, using a rod, they started beating all of them inhumanly. They had successfully killed 15 of these innocent lives and were about to kill the 16th one when another dental student came across this event. He tried to stop them but then the 2 students became aggressive and tried to hit him. As a result, he recorded the entire incident on his mobile phone. His video recording is now being used by the police as one of the prime evidence against this inhuman behavior.

Kolkata Police has taken an active role in this incident and arrested both the students. The students, after being arrested, have claimed that many more people were also involved in the incident. The hospital has also set up a committee to investigate the entire matter and find out the remaining people who were involved in this vandalism.

Also Read: Do Animals Commit Suicide?

The incident has left me shocked completely. Just because a puppy bites or scratches me, does not mean that I have the free license to kill him. There were a number of options available apart from that – to inform the municipal corporation so that they can be relocated, neutering and spaying of stray dogs, asking help from private dog lovers’ organization and the list goes on.

What makes me dive deeper into this is the fact that they are nursing students. Doctors are the ones who treat patients, but the doctor is not the person who always stays with an ailing patient 24X7. They are the nurses.

If this is the kind of empathy that these trainee nurses have in their minds for puppies, what would they do with troublemaker old patients who often throw tantrums or create a scene in front of others inside the ward? Would they beat them up too? Would they kill them out of anger too?

Latest Update: Maneka Gandhi Calls Up Kolkata Hospital, Demands Suspension of 2 Nursing Students Who Killed 16 Puppies

Before I end this post, I would like to present a question in front of all the readers – Is humanity dead? With an increasing number of crimes against humans, children, and now even animals I believe it is.

Whether this is true or not is debatable, but I strongly condemn the above incident and as a citizen of Kolkata, I am ashamed that this happened. ‘City of Joy’ will have to live with the bloodstains of these innocent lives forever. And I am afraid, humanity is indeed dead.

What do you think?