Racket of selling dog flesh to Kataragama pilgrims on pretense of hunted 'game'!

Racket of selling dog flesh to Kataragama pilgrims on pretense of hunted 'game'!

Further information connected to the sale of dog flesh on the pretense of Kataragama 'game' flesh has by now been revealed. It has been revealed that the sale of dog flesh on the pretense of 'game' flesh targetting pilgrims who arrive for the Kataragama Esala Festival had been going on

most lucratively for quite some time.

A certain young female officer serving at a state organisation in Kataragama had for the first time disclosed this news across an email that she had sent to activists of Animal Protection 'Ahinsa Sri Lanka'. On inquiring, this is what she says:

"It's only a few months since I came to work here. From the beginning period I came, I have been feeding several helpless animals. Three or four dogs had made it a habit of frequenting the office where I was working knowing that I was feeding at the exact time I used to do so. But a number of persons who were working with me began to poke fun at me for this. What they said was, "feed them well ... because after the Esala month you won't be able to even see them no". In the beginning I didn't take much notice of those things. But one day I asked them why they said such a thing. It was on that day that I came to understand about this barbarous story for the first time. When these dogs get fattened well from the food we offer, it is supposed that their day of death is counted, so to say. It is because the helpless well-fattened dogs in Kataragama town are supposed to be sold as wild or 'game' meat after being killed at Esala Festival period. But at the outset I really didn't believe that story. However after several people said the same thing, I inquired about it a little. To see .. it was true. Can you believe that these helpless dogs that wag their tail and feed on what I give and then cast a grateful look at me are being killed during the Esala Season and are sold as game?

From the survey that this youth carried out, the following information was exposed about the racket where dog meat is sold to pilgrims on the pretense of wild meat. It is a common occurence to note that a large number of pilgrims who come to Kataragama after attending to their religious activities are in the habit of going here and there in the town searching for wild meat. As the demand for wild meat grows, evidence has been found that certain elements living in Kataragama area have begun to earn a living by killing dogs and selling them as game. According to the Flora and Fauna Act, planning to kill wild animals and killing them and keeping possession of parts of their body are punishable offences. Just as much as racketeers who supply dog meat as well as pilgrims searching for game are doing it in a clandestine manner.

In this instance the killer gets half of the money or even a lesser amount. The contactmen acquires only the payment without even touching the dog flesh with the motive of protecting their self respect and to keep themselves away from the law. In addition, testimony has been secured to the effect that a predetermined time has been   arranged where this dog meat is sold on the understanding that it is game which then is being sold as the 'bite' of the pilgrims.

In the same way, raw meat of these dogs killed was sold in an area close to Kataragama. On such occasions, parts of the body of animals such as the deer and sambhur are found stored in the deep freezer together with dog flesh so that consumers who ask for their requirement by peeping into the freezer are well and truly duped in the process. Apart from this a location in proximity to Wathuruwarama Vihara in Sella Kataragama, dogs brought for slaughter are kept tied, has been reported. At yet another location a manure bag had been found by the neighbours with skulls of dogs already slaughtered, thus confirming the above point further. The other business of racketeers in this area is selling meat of other species not being usually consumed, of course under the name, game. Another popular racket in this area is killing animals by mixing poison with water and thus luring them as a prey. Even last week 2 individuals who were engaged in killing animals by setting a trap by mixing poison with water this way were taken into custody by Wild Life Officers in 4th Milepost area, in Gannoruwa, Hambantota.

Note -- Dulanjali Muthuwadige