As many as 26 dogs (including puppies) were recently rescued from a house in the Illickapady area of Kerala's Tripunithura district, after they were abandoned by their owner, Sudheesh Kumar.
The man had moved into a rented house near the Thykattu Devi Temple with his son (studying in Class 4) and the dogs, with the intent of breeding and selling them, as per a Mathrubhumi report.
Following a complaint filed at the Tripunithura Municipality by locals from the Samajapady Residents' Association demanding his eviction, as well as a purported domestic dispute with his wife (who is said to be currently abroad) Sudheesh moved out, abandoning his son and the 26 dogs (said to be worth between ₹30,000 and ₹50,000) on Sunday.
The child later contacted the Hill Palace police, after which he was transferred to his relatives' care on Monday night.
However, the dogs—especially the pregnant ones—which were left without food and water for about three days, caused a din. Some of the dogs even began wandering on the roads nearby.
This soon led to complaints from the residents. Some of the locals, including Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) president T.K. Sajeev, brought food and water for the starving dogs, and municipal workers soon moved the dogs to a shelter in Kandakkadav on Wednesday.
"Residents were saying let the dogs die," Sajeev alleged.
In that regard, the authorities have served a notice to Sudheesh, who is still missing, and could not be contacted.
