Lawyers for Animal Rights also dismissed MPKL’s claim that the canines at its pound were fed twice a day and placed in a suitable place, which is cleaned on a scheduled basis.

The NGO’s spokesman Rajesh Nagarajan said the video circulating of emaciated dogs and unsanitary conditions at the council’s pound was evidence that the dogs were being mistreated.

“Claims that the dogs are being fed and the pound cleaned is repugnant to anyone with common sense.

“It is ridiculous to say the dogs were fed twice a day when they look like prisoners of war,” he told FMT.

Rajesh said DVS and the board should charge MPKL under the Animal Welfare Act for abuse and torture.

A subsection of the Act, he said, stipulates that whoever wantonly omits doing anything and such omission causes “unnecessary pain or suffering” is committing abuse and torture.

“In this case, the council did not feed the dogs properly. And what we witnessed in the video was a result of systematic starving.”

Rajesh also said if the DVS or board did not act on this, they too would be negligent.

“The council is being inhumane. It is torturing the voiceless.”

He criticised MPKL for calling on the public not to abandon their dogs but send them to shelters, saying it was in no position to dish out such advice in view of the condition of the dogs at its pound.

“The audacity for it to say this with the abuse going on at its pound is so blatant. It should apologise instead for the mistreatment of these poor animals.”

On Wednesday, MPKL said it was reviewing the management of a dog pound under its supervision following criticism over its unhygienic conditions.

It said a review would be carried out by the vector unit of the department of solid waste management and environmental health.