Guwahati News Desk: The Assam Police have managed to rescue 24 stolen dogs from the grasp of illegal animal traffickers near Jorhat district on the night of 15 December. At least three persons have been detained by the police in connection to this incident. Apparently, the police acted on a tip-off and immediately launched a search operation in the area which led to 24 canines being rescued from the residence of one Duku Doley.
Doley has been quizzed by the Pulibor Police. It has been suspected that the dogs have been stolen and picked up from roads to deliver to another person in the upcoming days. Currently, the Pulibor Police Station has provided shelter to the dogs and a local NGO has taken the noble initiative of taking care of them. The members of the NGO said that they have been witnessing similar incidents of innocent dogs being stolen and sold for consumption in Nagaland during the Christmas and New Year seasons.
They have also said that this illegal racket has been prevailing for quite a time now. This particular incident also seems to be a part of this racket although no concrete evidence to prove this claim has been found as of now. The little information we have is certainly pointing towards this direction. This comes after the Nagaland Government decided to ban dog meat and it came into effect on July 4. Cruelty was cited as the reason for banning dog meat trade in Nagaland.
However, this decision did not really go down well with a lot of folks especially those whose livelihood depended on this industry. Dog meat traders were furious at this decision. Some licensed traders also went to the Gauhati High Court to challenge this decision. NSCN-IM has slammed this decision by labelling it as an attempt to appease “political celebrities.” On the other hand, the Government cited the Food Safety & Standards (Food Products Standards & Food Additives) Regulation 201, FSSAI as the main reason for the ban.
