Supreme Court orders vigilante groups in Kerala to stop killing stray dogs

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered vigilante groups in Kerala to stop killing stray dogs, and asked the state government to take action against them.

The alumni association of a prominent college in Kerala in October announced that it would gift gold coins to civic authorities who would kill the maximum number of stray dogs till December 10 in Kerala.

In the wake of increasing stray dog menace in the state, office bearers of Old Students Welfare Association of Pala-based St Thomas College said the "gift" would be given to the heads of panchayats and municipalities across the state where most stray dogs are killed.

The outfit had hit headlines recently for providing air guns at subsidised rates to deal with violent dogs.

Four persons have lost their lives and over 700 have been injured in canine attacks in the last four months in the state.

Earlier, cash incentives were also offered by a state- based industrialist for culling dogs.

The stray dog issue in the state came into limelight again after the gruesome killing of 90-year-old Raghavan who was mauled to death by a pack of street dogs at Varkala on October 26.

As per government figures, four persons were killed in the last four months in stray dog attacks and 701 people, including 175 children, were injured across the state.

This year, 53,000 people had to take treatment for dog bites in government medical college hospitals alone.

As many as 88,172 suffered dog bites in 2013 while it was 1,19,119 in 2014 and 47,156 in 2015 in the state, the figures added.