DOG MEAT
DIMAPUR, JULY 13: An animal protection group has launched an online petition campaign urging the government of Nagaland to take a “humane decision” and “make sure the cruel dog meat trade ban in Nagaland is enforced.”
The campaign has been initiated by the Humane Society International (HSI) branch in India. The HSI, according to its website, is one of the only international animal protection organizations in the world working to protect all animals—including animals in laboratories, farm animals, companion animals, and wildlife.
On Wednesday the organization send an email informing of the development, in the backdrop of the report filed by a news agency which had claimed that the government of Nagaland was in the process of banning dog meat in Nagaland. This news has however been refuted by the state government.
According to HSI India, it has already written a letter to the chief minister of Nagaland urging the state government to implement the existing ban on dog meat consumption, patrol trade routes and shut down markets. Navamita Mukherjee of HSI India told Eastern Mirror on Wednesday that the letter was written on July 7 last. “HSI is encouraged by reports that the Nagaland government sent a letter to the Municipal Affairs department regarding a policy to stop the capture and slaughter of dogs. However, as a ban against this trade already exists, but is being ignored, HSI/India would like to see real and urgent action,” she said.The organization has also uploaded a “shocking video footage of dogs being killed for meat in Nagaland”, which it said was captured during the visits to the local markets of Kohima and Dimapur. The footage, it stated, was an indication that the laws were “being blatantly flouted with dogs packed in sacks with just their heads poking out, their mouth either stitched closed or bound tight with rope to keep them quiet, which is done to illegally smuggle them into Nagaland from neighbouring states.”
During transport and display in the markets, they are denied movement, food or water, before finally being clubbed to death, according to the organization. “HSI/India gained unique access to one underground ‘death pit’ where dogs were seen being clubbed to death in front of each other, beaten multiple times in protracted and painful deaths. Most dogs were beaten several times before dying.”
According to the director of HSI/India, NG Jayasimha, “the brutal dog trade of Nagaland” was some of the worst inhumanity to animals” he has witnessed. The HSI campaign, Mukherjee said, plans to work closely with the government and law enforcement agencies in Assam and Nagaland to shut down the trade.
On being informed that the state government has denied to planning any ban on dog meat, she said that since it was illegal to eat dog meat in India, the organization would still insist that the government of Nagaland impose the ban.
