Nineteen severely malnourished dogs have been removed from the ‘dog enclosure’ in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, and sent to veterinary clinics for treatment. These stray dogs were reportedly captured and put into an enclosure inside IIT-M, where they were kept in pathetic conditions and made to starve, without food or water. “We have totally rescued 19 dogs which were severely malnourished and dehydrated, with skin infections and bones sticking out. There are about 87 more dogs inside the dog enclosure in the campus. Right now, twelve of the dogs are being treated at the PFA (People for Animals) centre in Red Hills. The others are in various veterinary clinics in the city,” says Arun Prasanna of the People for Cattle in India or PFCI, the NGO which first flagged the dire situation of dogs on the campus.
While the IIT management argued that the dogs were not keeping well as they were all old, Arun says that all the 19 dogs they rescued were between the ages of 4 and 5 and not old. “It is clear that they were not being looked after, and it was not age-related factors that led to the deterioration of their health,” he adds. The PFCI is responsible for the treatment of all the 19 dogs, and are funding all their expenses. Once they recover, these dogs will be put up for adoption by the same NGO.
“There are other dogs still inside the IIT dog enclosure. We picked the ones in the worst conditions and rescued them. But the other 87 dogs are also not being treated very well by the management. It got better once the Minister Ma Subramanian visited the campus to check the enclosure following our complaints,” Arun says. Since the matter is pending in the court, Arun says that his organisation will wait until they decide to rescue the other dogs in the enclosure.
“We have filed a Public Interest Litigation at the Madras High Court and our main argument is that the dogs have to be freed and not caged inside this enclosure. The matter is yet to come up for hearing in court,” he said. The PFCI has also filed a complaint with the Commissioner of Police, Chennai, against IIT Madras registrar Jane Prasad and the rest of the management for the death of 57 dogs inside the enclosure.
According to the IIT-M management, 187 dogs have been captured and put in the enclosure since October 2020. Out of these, 57 dogs have died and 14, the management claims, have been released. There are 87 dogs remaining inside the campus while 29, they claim, have been given up for adoption.
“The IIT-M management's claim that 29 dogs were adopted seems inaccurate. Hence it is mandatory that they should provide evidence of adoption. Otherwise, we have no choice but to assume that something wrong has happened to the dogs, and demand action against them,” said Arun.