It was a `heart-rending' scene for the onlookers who claimed that the canines were collectively given a `dog's burial' in a human burial ground. What exactly perturbed them was that some of the dogs were just half-dead. Picture taken before the animals were buried reveals that there were several puppies among the lot.

Eyewitnesses to the incidents said that the dogs were beaten with sticks and stoned and brought to the burial ground where a pit was readily dug to dispense them off. Though the custom is to bury just the dead, in this case the decent burial was given to even the half dead, groaning, wailing and moaning creatures.

A much harried witness to the incident P Sanjeev Kumar working in a private concern at Porur said that the dogs were beaten up infront of a particular house on Arcot Road with several witnesses to the `gruesome' spectacle.

Blue Cross of India vice-president S Chinny Krishna who was utterly shocked and expressed dismay on hearing about the incident, exclaimed that what had happened was grossly illegal. He pointed out that no municipal Or town Panchayat department had the right under the law to kill canines.

The municipal administration department had also sent circulars to all the town panchayats and municipal offices and other civic bodies forbidding the officials or staff from torturing and killing animals detailing the Animal Welfare guidelines laid down by the Central Government on cruelty to animals, particularly stray dogs, he said. Civic officials could only have Animal Birth Control (ABC) programmes done on the canines and definitely not to be beaten up or done to death, he said.

He assured that the Blue Cross would issue a legal notice to the department concerned, based on the complaint made by residents and eyewitnessesto the incident after which they could be prosecuted.

He added that the Blue Cross had even sterilised over 130 dogs in the Porur area during one of their ABC programmes and had even offered their services to the Panchayats and Municipalities to get the dogs sterilised free of cost.

However, Porur Town Panchayat officials, though they denied that they had beaten the dogs as claimed by some sections of the public, agreed that they did launch a rounding-up operation to clear the area of stray dogs on Tuesday from 8.00 am to 9.00 am, following complaints from public. On intervention from the Blue Cross stating that they could hand over the dogs for ABC programme, they stopped their work, the official claimed.

The officials further clarified that the dogs were a constant source of menace for the public and the two dogs that were beaten up had together bitten 11 passer-bys, they said.

Shyam, a resident of the area, who witnessed the incident said that they arrived when the beating drama was all over atabout 10.00 am. Some of his friends and co-residents wanted to speak to the officials who closed the gate of the burial ground at Karambakkam. "When we arrived it was all over, but when wanted to speak to the officials, they closed the gate of the Porur burial ground," he said adding that several witnessed the incident from the tops of the buildings nearby. They managed to gain entry into the burial ground and take a couple of photographs after they shouted at the three to four Town Panchayat staff around the place. They continued to beat the emaciated dogs and puppies in the burial ground too before depositing them in the pit which had already been dug out. The dogs were still moaning and some screaming, onlookers said.

Residents' attempts to stop the Town Panchayat staff from torturing the canines were futile.