GRAPHIC CONTENT: Outrage as butchered dogs are paraded through streets on a POLE
THE sickening spectacle of butchered dogs paraded through the streets on a pole by young political activists has outraged animal welfare campaigners.
Shocking images of the "culled" dogs hanging upside down and being marched to a post office have sparked a police investigation.
But the appalling scenes have to also led to calls for the activists belonging to an Indian political party to undergo "psychiatric counselling".
There are also calls for the country's archaic animal cruelty punishments to be overhauled as culprits only face fines of up to 57p.
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The dog population is never controlled by killing dogs
The pictures of the march by members of the Kerala Congress party emerged this week as they marched through the streets of Kottayam with 10 dogs, ranging across different coat colours and sizes, strung up along a pole en route to a post office.
Indian media reported that the activists were protesting over the authorities' lack of action against feral dogs after a spate of savage attacks across Kerala.
Official figures show that over the past eight months there have been 51,000 dog bite cases, resulting in four deaths.
A 65 year old woman was killed by a pack of strays in Thiruvananthapuram last month and another woman died earlier this week after being bitten.
To highlight the lack of official action, the protestors wanted to post the dog carcasses to ministers. One of the youth activists' leaders said they had only culled dangerous dogs because sterilization was not an option.
The incident has led to police cases against 15 people, although there have been no arrests.
Animal welfare campaigners have described the scenes of dog carcasses on a pole as "inhuman" and are demanding the state authorities deal with the stray problem in accordance with anti-cruelty legislation.
"Such inhuman killing at the hands of politicians will have terrible ramifications over the entire state," said an official from Humane Society International India.
"Moreover, the dog population is never controlled by killing dogs. There will be dogs that will fill the void left by the dead dogs in the territory."
And the Indian branch of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called for strict police action and punishments under law.
It also wants the young political activists to undergo psychiatric counselling and evaluation before being allow to re-join their party.