Vivek Narayanan, TNN, Oct 21, 2010, 12.45am IST
CHENNAI: As many as 34 stray dogs were killed in the village of Mugalivakkam, 25 km south of Chennai, on Wednesday morning after repeated complaints from residents about their menace. It was too late when Blue Cross got the information, even though it managed to save a puppy.
The population of stray dogs as well as the threat posed by them to residents are on the rise in the suburbs unlike in the city where their numbers are under check with local bodies choosing to cull the canines. Late last month, about a dozen stray dogs were beaten to death in Redhills.
Stray dogs were such a menace in Mugalivakkam, that on October 2, it figured in the panchayat meeting. On Wednesday morning, panchayat officials went ahead and killed the dogs by injecting poison into their hearts. When Blue Cross of India general manager Dawn Williams got the information, he rushed to the village and intercepted the tractor carrying the carcasses.
"At around 9.30 am, a woman informed me about the killing of stray dogs in Mugalivakkam panchayat. I took the Blue Cross van and reached there by 10.30 am and intercepted the trailer carrying the carcasses. I saw one dog struggling for life," Williams said.
Around 1 pm, the tractor attached was brought to the Mangadu police station. The driver, Sambandam, and cleaner Anandan were nabbed by Williams, but three others, including a woman, managed to escape. The duo were handed over to the Mangadu police and an FIR was registered against Mugalivakkam panchayat president P S Palani, vice-president K Ramesh and two others from Lakshmi Nagar Residential Welfare Association.
Williams recovered three cords, a bottle of poison and a syringe. "They caught the dogs using the cords and then lifted their front left leg and injected the poison directly into their heart. In such cases, dogs suffer in pain for five minutes and then die. I managed to save one puppy," said Dawn.
Meanwhile, residents of Mugalivakkam said they had merely asked the panchayat officials to end the dog menace and not to have the animals killed. "The dogs had started biting people. Even my husband was bitten once. There are some 3,000 schoolchildren studying in a government school here, they were all frightened of the dogs. Even we do not like killing animals," said Rani, a resident and member of a women's committee in Mugalivakkam.
R Ramakrishnan, Mugalivakkam ward 1 councillor, said they were not aware of the sterilisation programme for dogs. "It was decided to catch the dogs after the gram sabha meeting held on October 2, but we had no intention to kill them. Perhaps they did not know what to do with the dogs after catching them. Snakes, cows and dogs have become a big headache in our locality. We want the government to help us in removing them," Ramakrishnan said.
Sathya Radhakrishnan, joint secretary of Blue Cross of India, said stray dogs must be caught, sterlised and left at the same place from where they were caught. "The Chennai Corporation follows this practice, but the panchayat has mercilessly killed the dogs," Radhakrishnan said.
In January 2009, the Supreme Court stayed a Bombay high court verdict allowing municipal authorities in Maharashtra to kill stray dogs causing nuisance. Since then, cities like Chennai have also stopped the killing stray dogs and instead have started sterilising them.
Dawn said the Blue Cross does not get any funds for sterilising the dogs. "If a panchayat sends us a requisition, we will go there and help them sterilise the dogs," he said.
