This story is from January 31, 2019

In Peddapalli, civic workers poison, kill 35 dogs in 10 days

In Peddapalli, civic workers poison, kill 35 dogs in 10 days
The workers were asked to identify rabies-affected dogs. But residents say they did not check if the dogs were rabies-affected. After killing, they dumped the bodies in a van and carried those away
HYDERABAD: In a horrific case of animal cruelty, authorities of Ramagundam Municipal Corporation in Peddapalli district, about 200km from Hyderabad, admitted to killing 35 Indie dogs in the past 10 days. They claimed that the dogs were “rabies-affected” or “mad stray dogs”. This act triggered outrage among animal activists and residents.
Municipal workers injected poison into the dogs and have said the “drive will continue for two more days”.
“Instructions were given to poison dogs that were causing a menace in different localities. We received complaints that some stray dogs attacked children and others in various localities under the municipal corporation,” said Bonagiri Srinivas, commissioner, Ramagundam Municipal Corporation.
“We asked the workers to identify the mad and rabies-affected dogs and poison them after we received complaints. About 35 dogs have been killed. This includes 20 dogs killed on Wednesday. The dogs were injected with poison by four hired labourers,” said Pavan Kumar, sanitation inspector of the municipal corporation.
After 15 dogs were killed, a worker said he was stopped by residents of a colony. He added that he “acted as directed”.
An MBA student residing in GM Colony said, “I saw a person catching dogs near our lane. When I went up to his parked vehicle, I saw about 20 bodies of dogs, which had been poisoned and killed, were kept in the vehicle. They said they had instructions from Ramagundam Municipal Corporation.”
When TOI asked Bonagiri Srinivas how rabid dogs were identified, he refused to answer, while the sanitation inspector said he was not aware of the identification process.

“The workers did not check if the dogs were mad or rabies-affected. They identified big dogs and killed them. I saw one of the mother dogs killed in the area on Wednesday. I asked them to stop killing the dogs and leave. They spared the puppies in this colony,” said Vijay Kumar, another resident of GM Colony, adding, “There have been some cases of dog attacks, but this doesn’t mean they will kill all the dogs.”
Another resident said the labourers moving around with bottles of poison were happy to pocket Rs 100 for each dead dog.
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