The incident has shocked us all to the core, griefed former minister and Lok Sabha MP Maneka Gandhi as she announced shutting down of Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre in Delhi from August 1 for a complete overhaul. The decision for shutting down the centre comes after a video of a para vet of the centre assaulting a dog after it bit him went viral on social media. Founded in 1980, this animal care centre is India's oldest and Delhi's largest all-animal centre. Notably, the centre was founded in 1980 from a legacy bequeathed by Mrs Ruth Cowell of New South Wales, Australia to Sanjay Gandhi.
For the uninitiated, on July 5, a video on social media went viral. The video did not claim that the incident took place in Maneka Gandhi's centre, but alleged the same.
However in her statement issued on Saturday, Maneka Gandhi took the responsibility and admitted that the video was indeed from her centre and she is shocked to the core.
Admitting in a tweet, she wrote, "The incident has shocked us all to the core, I have been personally seething with rage and have been sick to my stomach since I watched the horrifying video. We immediately filed an FIR against the para-vets and they have been arrested. The doctor in-charge of the section has been given a notice to leave. But this is not enough."
Maneka said that the centre will not rescue animals during the overhaul period and the existing animals of the centre will be rehabilitated.
"We will rebuild this institution again -- physically and more importantly, in terms of staffing," the BJP MP said. The internal policies and incentive mechanisms will be reviewed and the entire dog section will be rebuilt, Maneka Gandhi said.
The video of dog which went viral:
The video showed a blood-stained room of a rescue centre where a dog was trashed on the floor and then beaten up after it bit one of the caretakers. Howvere, due to major injuries, the dog succumbed.
