By Ashraf Padanna/Gulf Times Correspondent/Thiruvananthapuram

A leading Kerala industrialist has offered a reward of Rs500,000 to an activist who was arrested by police last month for killing stray dogs.
Kochouseph Chittilappilly announced the award to O M Joy, president of the Stray Dog Eradication Group, for his efforts to eliminate strays despite the police action.
Joy is out on bail after his arrest from Muvattupuzha.
Chittilappilly’s charity, the Kochouseph Chittilappilly Foundation, had earlier set apart Rs1mn for assisting such efforts after several children and workers were attacked, some seriously, by street dogs.
“You cannot spot a stray dog in developed countries. But unfortunately, our civic authorities do nothing to keep our roads and public places safe for children and ordinary people,” Chittilappilly said.
Joy and others organised people and allegedly incited them to kill stray dogs in Ernakulam district after a two-and-a-half-year-old boy was attacked while he was playing at home. Two other children also came under attack in Muvattupuzha.
Following this, Shaji, an auto-rickshaw driver, confessed to the police that he had killed 130 dogs by feeding them poisoned meat.
Joy’s group offered Rs500 per dog as the authorities failed to control the multiplying numbers of stray dogs.
Thomas Unniyadan, the chief whip of the government in the state assembly, also supported them saying people were left with no option but to eliminate ferocious dogs.
State police chief T P Senkumar has warned against violating animal rights and said killing dogs would attract penal action.
According to the latest estimates of the animal husbandry department, some 268,000 of nearly a million canine population of the state are strays.
The department announced a massive sterilisation programme, Animal Birth Control (ABC), but it failed to take off as the expenses are prohibitively high and resources are limited.
Animal rights activists accuse leaders inciting the people to kill dogs of doing a criminal act and they want them to be punished.
They have challenged in the Supreme Court the Kerala High Court 2006 verdict empowering authorities to kill stray dogs. They also enjoy strong backing of Maneka Gandhi, the federal minister for women and child welfare, who has sought clarification from the state government on the killings.