Headlines
Kerala body denies decision on exporting dog meat
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 6
The Kerala Grama
Panchayath Association on Thursday denied media reports that its recent
general body meeting decided to cull stray dogs and export their meat to
northeast India and to other countries.
The association represents 978 panchayats (village councils) in the state.
Speaking
to IANS, P.T. Mathew, the president of the association, said the media
reports that came out were totally baseless and unfounded.
"The
meeting (on August 4) passed no resolution to cull stray dogs and export
their meat to countries like The Philippines, China or to north-east
states in our country," said Mathew.
He also denied that the Ernakulam District Grama Panchayath Presidents' Association earlier passed a similar resolution.
For
the past few months, the stray dog menace was a hugely debated issue
both inside and outside the Kerala assembly, forcing Chief Minister
Oommen Chandy to call a meeting of various departments and four of his
cabinet colleagues.
"The decision that was arrived at that
meeting is what is being followed and we are right now implementing the
decisions, which include accepted norms like animal birth control
measures and sterilisation of dogs at special camps," added Mathew.
More than a lakh of people have been bitten by stray dogs in the state last year.