Kerala: Congress goes on strike after fisherman killed by stray dogs

The state Congress on 22 may observed a strike in Trivandrum's Pulluvila, where a 50-year-old fisherman was killed by a pack of stray dogs.

Congress workers and Pulluvila natives have blocked the roads and Joseclin's wife and children are also participating in the protest.

The fisherman, Joseclin, a resident of the coastal belt died at a hospital after he multiple suffered dog bites all over his body.

The stray dog menace in Kerala is quite turning into a major crisis with the number of dog-bite cases touching around 53,000 last year.

The Supreme Court has ordered Kerala to give Rs 33 Lakhs 37 Thousand as compensation to 19 people who were terribly bitten by stray dogs. The said amount would be distributed as per the third report submitted by Srijagan committee to the Supreme Court.

Following the outcry, the state government had come out with a detailed programme including sterilisation of dogs and killing of violent canines.

However, there were also protests from animal lovers against the government's move to kill street dogs.

According to a report submitted in the Supreme Court recently in a connected case, more than one lakh people in Kerala have been bitten by dogs in 2015-16.

-ANI