An animal lover caught the panchayat officials red-handed killing the dogs and stuffing the carcasses into a g... Read More

VIJAYAWADA: About 40 stray dogs were poisoned to death allegedly by panchayat officials of Ramavarappadu in Andhra Pradesh 's Vijayawada district on Wednesday. An animal lover caught the panchayat officials red-handed killing the dogs and stuffing carcasses into a garbage vehicle.

A Nagmani, a resident of Model Village Colony, noticed the mass killing of dogs and alerted the animal lovers and activists.

"We saw panchayat workers giving injections to the dogs and questioned them. We checked their vehicles and saw around 20 carcasses in it. They escaped from the spot saying that they did it on the directions of higher officials," she said.

Having learnt about the mass killing of dogs, Help for Animals Society (HAS) activists rushed to the spot.

A Tejovanth, secretary of HAS, said that the local bodies were violating the norms and killing voiceless animals.

"Mass killing of stray dogs is an offence. But it becomes quite prevalent. Around 50 stray dogs were killed a month ago in Haafpeta of Guntur district and now officials of Ramavarappadu panchayat did the same. They are killing dogs by injecting potassium cyanide , which is a hazardous chemical," said Tejovanth.

Mass dumping of animal carcasses poses serious risks to human health as it contaminates agricultural fields, air, water bodies, he added.

"Government is turning a blind eye to these incidents and local officials are ordering for mass slaughter without taking steps to prevent the growth of population and vaccination. We urge the government to direct district collectors to pass orders to local officials and panchayat secretaries to stop mass killings and instead relocate them to other areas," said Aruna, a pet lover.

Patamata police swung into action and said that they were verifying possibilities of registering a case against panchayat officials.

