Even as stories of animal cruelty were being reported from Hyderabad and Chennai, it was Bengaluru's turn on Thursday morning after a mass grave with over 30 butchered stray dogs was discovered.
One of the butchered dogs managed to survive.
The Bangalore Mirror reported:
The horror started unfolding around 11 am on Thursday when the staff of People for Animals (PFA) got a call from a representative of a leading liquor manufacturer about the grave in their farmhouse in Amruth Mahal near Anjana Nagar. The staff were also informed about a dog yelping...The stench was overbearing and the scene heart-wrenching. The stray had been left for dead among the 30-odd mongrels that had been dumped there.
While it is unclear as to who is behind the incident and what the motive could be, the report adds quoting activists who suspect pressure from the BBMP to curb the street dog menace.
However, the dogs were healthy and seemingly not neutered.
"Though it is a private land, BBMP contractors come and dump garbage here. We heard some vehicles moving around last night. But this morning came as a huge shock to us,"a guard at the distillery was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, activists in Hyderabad called for a psychiatric evaluation of eight juveniles who burnt alive three puppies and filmed the horrific act on the outskirts of the city.
N.G. Jayasimha, managing director of Humane Society International/India HSI/India, said a psychiatric evaluation should be done as the violence towards animals could be an indicator of other abuses and potential serious anti-social behaviour in adulthood, including criminal offences and violence towards women and children.
"As an animal welfare advocate and as a parent, it breaks my heart to see the suffering the animals have gone through and the possible violent history that the youngsters must have had to deal with to resort to this kind of action," he said.
The boys, all said to be under the age of 18, committed the cruelty in a graveyard in Musheerabad area of Hyderabad.
The video shows the boys carrying three puppies, approximately two months old, by their hind legs and burning them alive under a pile of dried branches, sticks and jute sacks.
The puppies were struggling in the video to escape while the culprits pushed them back and held them down under the burning fire using poles.