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Police in Sri Lanka have launched an inquiry after officers held a group wedding for trained sniffer dogs.

Pictures emerged earlier this week showing the nine animals dressed in traditional wedding shawls, hats, ties and socks on a decorated podium.

The incident was condemned by Sri Lanka's Minister for Culture and Arts, T. B. Ekananayake, who said the wedding undermined traditional marriage rituals.

The officers behind the mass wedding on Monday defended their actions but have also apologised after Mr Ekananayake demanded an investigation be held into the ceremony which took place in the central town of Kandy.

Mr Ekananayake said police had "contemptibly devalued" traditional weddings in the Sri Lankan state and told reporters: "This is not acceptable to our cultural norms.

"We are people who really value our traditional weddings - which are only done as auspicious times alongside the chanting of stanzas and paruwa rituals.

"The police have demeaned all this by conducting this in the Kandy - the city of the Temple of Tooth. I totally condemn this. "

Police have said the "wedding" which saw the "brides" wearing mittens and the "grooms" wearing wearing red ties, was a humorous way to promote and encourage the domestic breeding of sniffer dogs.

The dog "marriages" were registered by an official in the presence of veterinary surgeons, medical doctors, top police officers and the public.

In other news about the devoutly Buddhist nation, the U. N Human Rights Chief, Navi Pillay, has hit out against Sri Lanka's government by saying the country is heading in an "authoritarian direction".

The comments made today by the Mr. Pillay are in response to the suffering of the people, four years after the end of the country's civil war.