The Manjeri police station in Malappuram, Kerala, filed an FIR against the killing of 15 stray dogs in the district. The case was filed after a complaint by Humane Society International, India.

The incident came to light after a video which was circulated on social media showed 15 dead stray dogs dumped into a truck reportedly owned by the Manjeri municipality. Voices in the video also spoke about hammering the stray dogs to death. 

All of the dogs were also sterilised and vaccinated. The Humane Society International, India conducts sterilisation drives for stray dogs every 2 years in Manjeri. The dogs in the video had ear tags which proved that they too had been sterilised. 

Malappuram is a district in Kerala where HSI India carried out vaccination and sterilization programs for over two years. 

According to a TOI report, Manjeri’s municipal chairperson VM Subaida stated that the municipality had nothing to do with the culling of stray dogs but had merely lent a tipper truck to transport the dead dogs. She also added that the incident took place in Thurakkal, near the Manjeri bypass road, where resident were reportedly battling the stray dog menace.  

HSI India’s campaign coordinator Sally Varma said that it was unfortunate that such cullings of stray dogs happened in a place where the organisation had worked to see almost 70 percent of the dogs had been sterilised. 

“This is a blatant violation of the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India which has repeatedly said that street dogs cannot be killed,” she added, thanking the Manjeri police for filing an FIR on the issue. 

Killing of stray dogs is prohibited as per IPC section 429 and subsections 11(a) and (l) of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals act. A case was registered under the same sections by the Manjeri police.