The Hindu 27.11.2013
Municipal staff confiscating pigs face stiff resistance
At Vannarapalayam rearers threaten them with spears, knives
The Cuddalore municipal employees, who went about removing pigs from certain areas in the town not only faced resentment but also stiff resistance from those rearing the animals on Tuesday.
The employees caught as many as 28 pigs from areas such as K.K. Nagar, Pudupalayam and Vannarapalayam. But those rearing pigs at Vannarapalayam challenged the civic employees when the later were about to take away the pigs.
Armed with spears and knives they surrounded the employees and refused to let them go.
Suddenly certain persons from the crowd caught hold of two pigs, slaughtered the animals and threw the meat on the road to voice their protest.
Taken aback by such brazen act the civic employees withdrew from the scene and lodged a complaint with the Thevanampattinam police.
Health hazard
When contacted, Municipal Commissioner P. Kalimuthu told The Hindu that following a spate of complaints received by District Collector R. Kirlosh Kumar about the pig menace and the health hazards posed by them, such as brain fever, periodic efforts were being taken to remove the pigs out of the town boundary.
Municipal Health Officer Kumaragurubaran said that since pigs abound in the town, and given their speedy proliferation, raids were being carried out in those areas on a monthly basis. For the purpose of catching the pigs the municipality had engaged trained catchers from Thanjavur. Those pigs caught by them would be taken to Vedaranyam and let into the forest areas. But today the staff unexpectedly came across a violent response from those rearing the pigs.
They were strictly told that if the animals were kept in the sty there would not be any problem, but if the pigs started roaming in the streets they would be caught.
Street dog menace
As for the street dog menace, Dr. Kumaragurubaran said that on an average the civic body was sterilising 5—8 dogs a day. After 45 days of sterilisation the dogs would lose their ferocity and therefore would not pose any threat to the people.
The civic body seems to be toying with the idea of capturing the street dogs and freeing them in far away jungles.
