Government-funded workers in Mauritius are killing dogs in crude ways.

Video footage released by International Animal Rescue and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) shows workers from the government-funded Mauritius Society for Animal Welfare (MSAW) violently catching a large number of dogs. The workers then take them to a facility in Port Louis, where as many as 20 of them are killed in full view of one another. While one worker throws the dogs to the ground and stands on them to hold them in place, another administers a hit-or-miss lethal injection – without anaesthetics – through the chest in an apparent attempt to puncture the heart. This procedure is condemned by the international veterinary community because it often causes dogs to die slowly and in extreme pain.

The video, which was filmed in September, reveals that despite years of international outrage over the Mauritian government's inhumane treatment of its dog population as well as repeated offers from international animal-welfare groups to help introduce humane alternatives, the country is still using a barbaric and ineffective method of dog control.

In light of these findings, we urge you to introduce a humane dog-management programme which includes a national spay/neuter programme. Additionally, we urge you to overhaul MSAW's leadership and staff and launch an investigation into its activities as well as its supervision by the Ministry of Agro Industry and Food Security.