Hyderabad: An FIR has been registered against nine people, including the sarpanch and panchayat officials of two villages, for allegedly poisoning and killing more than 300 dogs in Hanamkonda district of Telangana. Around 110 dog carcasses have been excavated, and police clarified that the initial claim of 300 was an overestimate.
Police action came after videos and photographs of dead dogs buried in pits in Shayampet and Arepally villages surfaced on social media, prompting a complaint by the animal welfare NGO Stray Animal Foundation of India. Hanamkonda is 150 km from Hyderabad.
According to the FIR, the accused include the sarpanches and secretaries of Shayampet and Arepally, the husband of the Arepally sarpanch, and two men allegedly hired to carry out the killings. The dogs were reportedly given poisonous injections and their bodies dumped and buried at multiple sites.
Shyampet Circle Inspector P Ranjith Rao said police have so far recovered around 110 dog carcasses from two locations.
“We excavated the place where dogs (bodies) were kept and we found that nearly 110 dogs were killed at both the places,” Rao said.
The police have registered a case under Section 325 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for mischief by killing or maiming animals, along with Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
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The complaint was filed by Adulapuram Goutham, an animal cruelty prevention manager with Stray Animal Foundation of India, who told police that activists had recorded phone calls in which local leaders admitted to the killings.
According to the FIR, animal welfare activist Deepika Pingeli spoke to the husband of the Shayampet sarpanch on January 6, during which he allegedly said the dogs had been killed.
Similar statements were recorded the same day from the Shayampet up-sarpanch and, on January 7, from the husband of the Arepally sarpanch, the complaint states.
The FIR also names two men, Nagaraju and Hanmanthu, who were allegedly hired to administer the poison, and a vehicle that was reportedly used to transport them.
Residents of Shayampet have long complained about aggressive stray dogs. Farzana Begum, a resident named in the FIR as a witness, said, “The sarpanch promised to eradicate strays if the locals vote for him.”
The stray dog question
Animal welfare advocates say that such incidents reflect a pattern of local bodies bypassing mandated measures. Alokparna Sengupta, Managing Director of Humane World for Animals India, said these incidents are not isolated.
“The panchayats and the municipalities who are responsible for actually implementing the ABC rules are finding a way around,” Sengputa said.
Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, framed under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, mandate sterilisation and vaccination of stray dogs as the primary method of population control, with local bodies responsible for implementation.
“Everybody is blaming the dogs but the governments and municipalities have had 25 years to implement the animal birth control rules,” Sengupta added.
She also warned that culling stray dogs could worsen the situation in the long run.
“This is unlikely to be the first time this has happened in Hanamkonda. Killing dogs creates a vacuum. In a few months or years, other dogs move in, their numbers increase, and the cycle repeats,” she said.
The incident comes amid an ongoing Supreme Court hearing on stray dogs, where the court has been revisiting recent orders that directed dogs be removed from public spaces such as educational institutions, hospitals, sports complexes, bus depots, and railway stations and relocated to designated shelters after sterilisation and vaccination, even as animal welfare groups have challenged large-scale relocation as unscientific and inhumane.
Police said further investigation is underway and requested locals to adopt government-authorised methods for stray dog management.
(Edited by Stela Dey)