In Munnar, a tourism hotbed in Kerala, the local government is facing charges of the mass killing of as many as 200 stray dogs.
The Kerala Police are probing the allegation that at least 200 dogs were killed and buried by the Munnar Grama Panchayat after receiving an official complaint from an animal rescue group. The group was able to provide visuals of strays being loaded into a vehicle owned by the Grama Panchayat, according to Malayalam media reports.
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As many as 30 people were bitten by stray dogs within the Panchayat's limits in the last two months. The local self-government was on the back foot after the public criticised it for not doing enough to manage the stray dog menace, reports said. This is suspected to have led to the concerned authorities sanctioning an alleged illegal culling of the canines.
The driver of the Panchayat vehicle was named in the complaint by the animal rescue group, according to Manorama News. However, the local self-government has denied all allegations and maintains that they have not harmed the animals.
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However, the development has kick-started a largely one-sided debate on social media. People across the state have thrown their weight behind the Panchayat authorities, claiming that they did the right thing. Stray dog attacks and rabies cases have been on the rise in the southern state in recent years. School-going children being mauled by packs of strays even in their homes have resulted in a change in public sentiment over culling the animals.
Many claim that if vaccination and sterilisation are ineffective, the government should not think twice before eliminating the dangerous animals. Human lives cannot be valued over those of dogs or any other animal, they argued in the comment section of all news articles sharing the developments in Munnar.