500 stray dogs killed in Telangana
In a fresh incident of stray dog killings, around 200 canines were allegedly killed in Telangana’s Kamareddy district, taking the toll to about 500 in the last one week, police said on Tuesday. Sources from villages said (some) elected representatives, including sarpanches, allegedly carried out the killings to “fulfill promises made to villagers” during the recent gram panchayat elections to tackle the stray dog menace. Police said a case has been registered against six persons, including five village sarpanches, for their alleged involvement in the incident. Earlier, police in Hanamkonda district had booked nine persons, including two women sarpanches and their husbands, in connection with the alleged killing of around 300 stray dogs in Shayampet and Arepally villages.
“Ahead of the gram panchayat elections held in December last year, some candidates promised villagers they would tackle the stray dog and monkey menace.
They are now allegedly ‘fulfilling’ those promises by killing stray dogs,” sources said. The carcasses were buried on the outskirts of villages, police said, adding that veterinary teams exhumed the bodies and conducted post-mortem examinations. Viscera samples have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory to determine the exact cause of death and the type of poison used, a senior police official said.
