The government of Nagaland on Friday announced a ban on the sale of dog meat after a picture of dogs tied in sacks went viral on social media. The picture that shows animals at a market in Dimapur city drew a lot of flak from social media users.
“The State Government has decided to ban commercial import and trading of dogs and dog markets and also the sale of dog meat, both cooked and uncooked,” Nagaland Chief Secretary Temjen Toy wrote on Twitter.
A Twitter user on Wednesday took to the microblogging site and wrote, “These dogs were being taken from West Bengal to Nagaland on the 26th of last month to be sold for meat.”
Not only social media users, animal welfare organisations too expressed anger over the picture that showed dogs in sacks with their mouths tied with a rope.
Maneka Gandhi, politician and animal rights activist called for a protest against such cruelty and urged the police to stop animal smuggling.
In June, the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations urged Nagaland government to ban animal slaughter and enforce strict animal welfare laws.
“The current laws in India are inadequate in punishing violent crimes against animals. This is beyond abuse. We need to revisit laws,” the organisation had said.
