Five dogs clubbed to death at city Varsity

CHENNAI: Five stray dogs were allegedly clubbed to death by men hired by a private university in Pallavaram to rid the campus of them on Wednesday. Blue Cross of India officials, who got an alert from upset students, arrived in time to rescue two other dogs that were badly injured from the beating. A Blue Cross official said, “A person in the administration agreed that these men were hired by them to chase the dogs out, but killing them was not a part of the plan.”The animals were ‘regulars’ in the campus, more in the nature of college pets. A staff member of the institute, who was witness to the incident, confirmed, “There are many strays on the ground that the students feed them everyday near the canteen; they are not ferocious.” He added, “It was a gruesome sight to watch as five to six men chased these dogs down and hit them with iron rods on their head and then on their backbones.” They could not escape, he stated, as two of the men were holding the dogs down.A volunteer of the Blue Cross present at the scene claimed, “We saw the five dead animals lying right outside the main entrance of the building.” Police sources stated that the carcasses have been sent to the Madras Veterinary College at Vepery for post-mortem and an FIR has been filed at the Pallavaram police station. “The persons who committed the henious act have been identified and the arrests will be made by Wednesday night,” a police official maintained.