Trucks full of dogs are being illegally transported from West Bengal, Assam to Nagaland for consumption. Their mouths are tied with ropes so that they cannot bark. Many have died due to suffocation on the way.
Notably, dog killing and eating are illegal according to the laws of India but it is still carried out in Nagaland and other North-eastern states, where dog meat is considered to have high nutritional and medicinal value.
Animal rights activist Maneka Sanjay Gandhi urged people to be ‘bearers of change’ and protest in a civilized manner to the Chief Secretary of Nagaland,Temjan Toy and ask the police to stop dog bazaars and restaurants, which run abated in Nagaland. She also shared the picture of the animal bazaar in Dimapur taken on the 26thof June
Many activists and social media users are now urging others to send an email to the Chief Secretary of Nagaland Temjen Toy at csngl@nic.in urge the Nagaland government to ‘stop dog markets, dog restaurants and smuggling of dogs’.
Maneka Sanjay Gandhi urged people to write emails as many as possible with a target of 50,000 to Chief Secretary of Nagaland within three days so that we can change the world together.
Killing dogs for meat is illegal under Section 429 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and Section 11(1)(a), (d), (e), and (l) of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.In Animal Slaughter Bill 2020, the Mizoram government has removed dogs from the list of animals suitable for slaughter.However, the practice hasn’t stopped in many North-eastern states.Protesting against the practice, many dog lovers and animal activists in Nagaland have over the years launched several campaigns to end India’s dog meat trade, which sees more than 30,000 stray and stolen dogs beaten to death each year.
In May 2017, Nagaon police had rescued around 75 dogs from Samaguri town while being smuggled to the neighbouring Nagaland. Of the rescued dogs, 23 had died due to asphyxiation and hunger.
Sources say that dog meat sellers in Nagaland pay Rs 500 to Rs 1000 for a live canine while the meat is sold at around Rs 300-400/kilogram. Thousands of stray and stolen dogs are killed every year in the northeast with state governments failing to enforce a ban on dog meat.
