Express News Service By

BENGALURU: TWENTY-TWO dead dogs were found in a pit on July 21 at Amruth Mahal near Anjanapura. The dogs were believed to have been killed elsewhere and dumped in the area. The identity of the killers remains a mystery as none of the locals could identify the dogs.

Animal Welfare Officer Sharath Lal from People for Animals (PFA) received a call on Thursday regarding this. “I received the call and visited the spot along with my team. We saw close to 30 dogs dumped in the pit, out of which one dog was alive. So we immediately rescued the dog and admitted it to Cartman Veterinary Clinic in Koramangala. The rest were in a decomposed state and post-mortem was not possible,” he said.

Sharath said the dogs looked healthy and the cause of death is unknown. The animal rescue team was alerted by the staffer of a distillery.

Tony Freer, an officer with Honorary Animal Welfare, said, “When we visited the spot on Friday, the dogs were buried in a pit. We got in touch with DCP (South), who sprung into action and coordinated with Talaghattapura and Bannerghatta police, who visited the spot. Since Amruth Mahal near Anjanapura falls under Bannerghatta limits, we filed an FIR there.”

Tony and other volunteers stayed back overnight to make sure no one destroys evidence. On Saturday, with the help of local officials, the team began exhuming the carcasses along with the doctor in the presence of police. “By the look of it, I can say the dogs were inhumanly handled and poisoned. This shows brutality towards the healthy mutes, which were killed”, he added.

Veterinary doctor from Anekal area Dr G V Murali Krishna, who visited the spot on Saturday, said the dogs might have been dumped on July 19. “We have recovered 22 dogs, of which nine dogs had been subjected to Animal Birth Control operation. We even found one domestic dog, which had a collar around its neck.”

The vet has collected samples for tests to identify the cause of death. “Prima facie, it looks like the dogs were poisoned, however we can only come to a conclusion after we get the reports.” he said. The test report may take three to four days.

The rescued dog which is under treatment is said to be less than 15 months old. Dr Srinidhi Bhat of Cartman Veterinary Clinic in Koramangala said, “The dog had lacerated wounds around the neck and it was traumatised when it was brought to our clinic on Thursday. But after treatment, the animal is healing well and is active.”

The clinic usually treats stray dogs and releases them back to the area where they were picked up from. However, in this case, the 15-month-old dog will be at the clinic until someone adopts it. Bannerghatta police have registered a case under Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals.

Speaking to Express, a police officer said, “The veterinary doctor has collected samples that will be sent to the forensic lab on Monday, until which we cannot comment on the cause of death. PFA, Honorary Animal Welfare, Enablers United are the animal NGOs that have come forward to file an FIR along with an independent animal rescue member.”