50 Stray Dogs Burnt Alive by Farmers in Tamil Nadu’s Kancheepuram

The village panchayat is denying the occurrence of the incident although an animal activist claims to have proof.

Representational image of stray dogs. (Photo: iStockphoto)

Two farmers from Keezhamur village in Tamil Nadu’s Kancheepuram district burnt 50 dogs to death on last Sunday, reports The New Indian Express. Muthu (30) and Murugadoss (33) left the bodies of the dead dogs scattered around the village area. The police has registered a case against four villagers – Murali, Muthu, Murugadoss and Jeeva – for the act, reports The Times of India.

The incident came to light after animal activist P Ashwath responded to the distress call by the villagers. Aswath, an engineering student in Chennai, said that the site remained ridden with the rotting bodies four days after of the incident.

The dogs, said Aswath, were fed poisoned meat before being burnt alive. Aswath, who travelled to Kacheepuram with two of his friends, said:

Close to 70 dogs were poisoned, out of which 50 were burned alive using kerosene. By this time, several crows, cats and birds had also died of feeding on these carcasses, so we put as many as we could find into gunny bags to prevent any further infection.

The villagers claim that the arrested villagers killed the dogs after their sheep were attacked by strays, according to the police.

Aswath told The Times of India the police and the village panchayat refused to believe him at first. While the police eventually registered a complaint, the panchayat chose to deny the incident.