Kochouseph Chittilappilly, the well known Kerala-based businessman and philanthropist who owns the inverter company V-Guard and a chain of amusement parks named Wonderla, has offered a grant of five lakh rupees on Tuesday to the Theruvu Naaya Unmoolana Sangham (Street Dog Eradication Committee), allegedly responsible for killing many street dogs.
Chittilappilly’s offer comes against the backdrop of The Animal Welfare Board Of India sending a letter to the police department of the state with 40 street dogs being killed in Kannur alone by the same Committee in the month of August.
The Committee had announced a cash award of Rs 500 for those killing stray dogs, leading to the arrest of its leader.
The Committee started becoming more active after a government report highlighted 1,60,000 incidents of dog bites throughout the state.
In spite of criticism from animal right activists and even a police complaint against him, Chittillapilly has defended his decision.
While speaking to The News Minute, Chittilapally said, “The group is not culling street dogs anymore. They will hand over the dogs to an organization in Coimbatore which will adopt them. They have the certificate from the organization and Panchayat.”
He added, "It’s a group run by small farmers. But they are doing good work and they need to be encouraged. It is after their intervention that dog bites have reduced in that area."
But why help a group that was offering rewards for culling dogs? “They only culled rabid dogs and I see nothing wrong in that,” he said.
This is not the first time that the Thrissur-based business magnate has been vocal against stray dogs. When the debate on culling stray dogs in Kerala was at its peak, Chittilappilly had supported it whole-heartedly.
His blog poking fun at those who valued dogs more than humans has created much furore.