In a most inhuman gesture, nearly 30 stray dogs were poisoned to death at Morbe village in Panvel taluka in the last four days. Activists said that they suspect that the dogs were possibly given food mixed with poison. Animal welfare workers said most of the dogs died a “painful” death. One of them had recently given birth to five puppies.
Talking on the incident, activist Sunil Bhoir said, “We are very disturbed to see how healthy dogs have possibly been killed en masse. Many of them were taken care of by local tribal families staying close to the village water tank while others were adopted by other local residents in the village and adjoining Dwarka housing complex. We have given a written application to Panvel taluka police station on Saturday and have demanded that a post-mortem must be done.
This is not the solution to frequent stray dog bites happening everywhere. “Every gram panchayat must follow the Animal Birth Control programme by utilising funds to sterilise stray dogs and cats. Sterilisation is the only humane and legal way to control dog population,” said another animal welfare worker.
The Panvel taluka police sub-inspector Sanjay Chavan observed, “Various aspects of dog-killing, poisoning are being investigated.”
