Illegal Mass culling of dogs in Jammu and Kashmir (India)

Subject : Massacre of stray canines in Kashmir %u2013 Shoot-at-sight orders
issued by Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir ; Death by poison follows
 
Dear Sirs,
 
We the citizens of India are horrified and deeply saddened by the
utterly illegal, barbaric occurrences taking place in the state of
Jammu & Kashmir. A massive and systematic massacre of innocent animals
is presently under way in that State, after Dr. Asgar Samoon,
Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, and ironically, a member of the
Animal Welfare Board of India, issued shoot-at-sight orders for dogs.
 
He is stated to be a veterinarian, but has not let his veterinary
knowledge come in the way. He has actually requested the public and
the police to identify rabid dogs! He may not be aware, but we
definitely are, that the general public and the police are not
qualified to identify rabid dogs. Dr. Samoon has in fact armed anybody
and everybody in Kashmir to shoot just about any dog after labelling
it rabid. It is rarely that one sees this level of lawlessness in the
actions / orders of a government functionary.
 
This has given rise to mob frenzy. The Srinagar Municipal Corporation,
having taken refuge under this open-ended order, has resorted to the
massacre of thousands of stray dogs in the past week alone by
embarking on a huge poison drive. Consequently, the prospect of
actual resolution, i.e. stabilizing and controlling the dog population
and the threat of rabies through proven, humane, scientific, rational,
and most of all, legal methods like ABC/ARV programmes has been
effectively sabotaged. The barbaric methods being resorted to in
Kashmir has never worked through the ages, and will not work now.
 
What is shocking is that Mr Asghar Hassan Samoon, apart from being a
qualified veterinarian, is also a member of the Animal Welfare Board
of India! For the unprecedented violence and killing of community
dogs that his ill-advised order has unleashed, the Ministry may please
divest him of his membership with immediate effect. Additionally,
steps should be taken to cancel his veterinary license.
 
The brutal, inhumane killings are currently under way in many parts of
Srinagar including Lal Chowk, Lal Bazar, Ownte Bhawan, Dalgate,
Jawahar Nagar, Rajbagh, Soura, Abi Guzar, Iqbal Park, to name just a
few. Eyewitness accounts have revealed that the dogs killed with
strychnine poison are being transported and dumped in trucks in
hundreds at a place called Gaalandar in Pampore on the outskirts of
the Srinagar-Jammu highway, in 20-foot-deep trenches by employing
large earth movers and excavators. Newly dug trenches to bury
thousands more are clearly seen.
 
What is occurring is highly unfortunate and we vehemently and strongly
condemn it.
 
In view of the facts stated above we request your immediate and urgent
intervention. Please ensure that the senseless, mindless, completely
illegal killings are stopped immediately. Please remove Mr. Samoon
from the Animal Welfare Board of India forthwith, and ensure
revocation of his veterinary license as well. Please facilitate
adoption of animal birth control and immunization of stray canines at
Kashmir, as happens in the rest of the civilized world to stabilize
dog population and control the threat of rabies.
 
 
Thanking you,
Sincerely,
Concerned Citizens of India and the World