Carcasses of 21 stray dogs exhumed in Tamil Nadu

VELLORE: Carcasses of 21 stray dogs, allegedly killed by administering lethal injections and buried in BHEL township at Ranipet in Tamil Nadu, were exhumed on Tuesday.
The carcasses were exhumed from the dry bed of a water body inside the township. The process started at 11.30am and went on till 4pm. The carcasses were found at a depth of four feet.
Sources said two or three carcasses were in a highly decomposed state.“The body parts were highly decomposed. The spot postmortem given an indication that the animals were killed 15 days ago,” Vellore district collector S A Raman told TOI.
The exhumation was done in the presence of a team of seven veterinarians led by assistant director of animal disease investigation unit Srihari, deputy superintendent of police, Ranipet, Mathivanan, and tahsildar.
“The vital parts of the dead animals have been preserved for further examination to ascertain the cause of death. It will be sent to the forensic laboratory in Vellore,” said Dr M Velmurugan of animal husbandry department. He lodged the police complaint regarding the mass killing of stray dogs a couple of days ago.
The mass killing of stray dogs came to light after a college student had sent an email to Union minister for women and child development Menaka Gandhi about the incident. The minister, in turn, contacted animal activist T B Somanathan and asked him to take it up with the authorities.
The collector, following a complaint by Somanathan, directed officials to conduct an inquiry. The Sipcot police filed a case and picked up two people who assisted the residents to kill the dogs. The duo told police that they had transported the carcasses and buried them.