3 puppies burnt alive by youth

In a chilling incident, three puppies were allegedly burnt alive by a group of youngsters, one of whom recorded the gruesome act, the police said on Wednesday.

The incident took place at a graveyard in the Musheerabad area here on the afternoon of July 16 and came to light on Tuesday when a video of the incident went viral on social media.

A group of youngsters caught three stray puppies and tied them together. They then dragged the hapless animals to some distance and put them into a fire made of jute bags and dry sticks, Shreya Paropkari, an animal rights activist, said in a complaint filed with the Musheerabad police on Tuesday.

“One of the perpetrators recorded the entire incident and is heard instructing and instigating the others to set them on fire. The recordings were recovered from a fish stall owner in Musheerabad,” she said in the complaint.

Following the complaint, a case was filed under IPC Section 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc,) and relevant sections of Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act, sub- inspector B. Bhaskar Rao said, adding that efforts are on to arrest the youngsters involved in the incident.

Meanwhile, a video surfaced showing a man killing a dog with an air gun, though it was not clear where or when the incident occurred, the police said.

An animal rights activist approached the Nampally police here and said he saw the video on Internet and sought necessary action, inspector K. Madhu Mohan Reddy said. “We asked him to approach the cyber crime police,” Mr Reddy said.

Humane Society International director N. G. Jayasimha said, “This particular video was received a couple of days ago (through HSI helpline). It was uploaded on Snapchat (a popular mobile app that allows one to send videos and pictures). We are announcing a reward of Rs 1 lakh for any information leading to arrest of the person in the video."

“We got a report on the incident yesterday after which I filed a police complaint,” Shreya, who works as cruelty response manager with the Humane Society International, said.

Earlier, Shreya and Vasanthi Vadi, an activist with People for Animals, met Hyderabad police commissioner M. Mahender Reddy and submitted the video clip.

The gory incident in the city comes weeks after two MBBS students flung a stray dog from the roof of a building.