Dogs Removed From Symbiosis Campus, Students Seek Info on Whereabouts

Hyderabad: Students of the Symbiosis International Institute have approached the NGO AASRA after waking up to find that street dogs from inside the campus and its surroundings had gone missing.

According to the students, they first approached the NGO and later met officials at the gram panchayat, who directed them to the GHMC. Corporation officials denied any involvement in the dog-catching activity.

The NGO stated that there is no clarity on whether the institute followed Supreme Court guidelines on the handling of street dogs and demanded that authorities disclose where they were taken.

AASRA alleged that the dogs were picked up violently using wires. Students claimed that 37 dogs, including puppies, were missing — six of them from within the campus and the rest from areas surrounding it. Alumni who had adopted some of the puppies have also raised concerns over the sudden disappearance of the dogs.

The students told the NGO that the dogs inside the campus were sterilised, vaccinated, non-aggressive, and familiar to the students. They said they had regularly conducted adoption drives and were shocked to find no dogs on the campus without any prior intimation.

Students alleged that the administration failed to inform them about the dog-catching activity despite earlier assurances. They claimed that the campus administrator said it was not his duty to inform students, and instead redirected them to departments that had no role in the matter.

Providing limited clarification to AASRA, a university official reportedly said that, in line with University Grants Commission (UGC) rules and a recent Supreme Court order, a letter was written to the gram panchayat to clear the dogs. However, no information was given on where the dogs were taken, the NGO said.