Letter to White House from Hyderabad over killing strays

The over-enthusiasm of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to keep the city spik and span for Ivanka Trump's visit is attracting the ire of animal rights activists.

The alleged poisoning of street dogs by the veterinary wing of the corporation has made the animal lovers of the city write to the White House condemning the killing of animals in the name of Ivanka's visit.

The stray dogs were killed in the posh areas of Banjara and Jubilee Hills, which is in the vicinity of Madapur, the venue of the  GES-2017 summit.

According to Pravallika, animal rights activists and a former Blue Cross member, the killings were reported in local newspapers on Wednesday.

"It is highly disturbing that the government is resorting to kill innocent animals just to make the city look 'beautiful' for  that one day Ivanka Trump is visiting," she said.

The activists who also wrote to the Chief Veterinary officer of the GHMC through social media said  the killing of animals by poisoning is absolutely unacceptable.

"These dogs live here. The city is their home. Please do not kill them in their own home for a VIP's visit," they wrote.

"Please note that the killing of animals only makes the city ugly,  not beautiful. So please stop this insane act of poisoning stray dogs," they wrote in a message to the concerned officers.

Talking to DH,  Chief Veterinarian  Dr Venkateswara Reddy however said the GHMC  picks up dogs only for  sterilisation and vaccination.

"The dogs are generally left  in the same area after the procedure. There is not even 1% of truth in the allegation that GHMC has poisoned the dogs," he said.

The GHMC, which had already attracted severe criticism for shifting beggars and street hawkers to rehabilitation centres, was caught this time by the residents of the areas where the street dogs suddenly started vanishing.

The residents pointed out that the dogs that began  vanishing have not come back.

Few concerned citizens who found  the dogs missing  said the dogs that began vanishing have not come back as yet.  Some residents, who took one of the sick stray dogs to  a government veterinarian, said the doctor had confirmed that the dog has been poisoned.