The annual event has been condemned by animal rights activists, yet it continues year after year without hindrance. While majority of India doesn't consume dog meat, it is really popular in Nagaland where it is considered a delicacy.
One Kg of dog meat costs more than Rs 300 in the state. There are several hotels, especially in the state capital and commercial hub Dimapur, that serve dog meat.
Dogs are even imported from outside the state as dog meat is considered as having high medicinal value and nutrition.
Even though dogs being traded for meat in markets across Nagaland is nothing new, an investigation by Humane Society International (HSI), has exposed the sheer cruelty involved in the trade.
The animal rights group have released images and videos of dogs packed into sacks, blatantly in defiance of the law at local markets in Kohima and Dimapur.
Many of the dogs either had their mouths stitched closed or were muzzled with tight ropes. “During transport and display in the markets, they are denied movement, food or water, before finally being clubbed to death.”
HSI said the dogs are mass-slaughtered in “death pits” where they are beaten to death in front of other dogs, most of them beaten several times before dying.
Often, customers select the live dog they wish to purchase, which are then killed in the market. Before being butchered, the carcass is roasted over an open fire or thrown into scalding hot water to make it easier to remove their fur, the investigators claim.
The HSI has now launched an online petition seeking a ban on the dog meat trade in the state. It also comes days after the Nagaland government began a process of banning the use of dog meat as food in the state.
NOTE: Even though dog meat trade is illegal in India, it was not enforced in Nagaland because of Article 371 (A) bestows special status to Nagaland to protect the customary traditional practices of the people of the state from any Act of parliament.
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