THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A strong online campaign has been launched against the mass culling of stray dogs in Kerala. Animal lovers sent a string of mails from all over Pune, Mumbai, and Kolkata, to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's official e-mail id, threatening to boycott the state as a tourist destination.
They said they would urge their family and friends to not visit the state ever again. A Pune-based marketing professional, Pradip Kulkarni wrote, "Today, Kerala is the most dangerous place to stay for a tourist who is an animal lover. No more visits to Kerala from me, my friends and my family at least. All the best with your future massacres." Another mail, written by Yogesh Sharma from Mumbai, read, "Look at the way the people in Kerala are glorifying such acts of barbarisms. I, on my part would not visit such a barbaric state with my family for tourism, which I wanted to undertake."
The response follows a mass killing of street dogs by a people of a society after a stray killed an old man. State Tourism Minister AC Moideen said the government would look into the matter. "It is not being done in good taste. The two incidents of culling reported were only people's natural reaction when the stray dogs attacked and killed the citizens. But the government will definitely examine the matter since any damage to the state's image would affect its tourism prospects," he said.
