Dyed stray puppies being sold as expensive breeds in Mumbai

Puppies of stray dogs are being sold as expensive canine breeds to animal lovers after colouring them, police said Monday.

A complaint in this connection has been filed at the Worli police station and process is on to register an offence, an official said.

Animal rights activists and NGOs suspect this is part of a big racket.

Reports of stray puppies being sold for high price after colouring them were received from Crawford market in South Mumbai and some other places in the city, they said.

The issue was highlighted by animal activists and the Bombay Animal Rights, an NGO.

The NGO recently got information about selling of stray puppies for Rs 18,000 to 20,000 each after dyeing them with shades of well-known hair colouring brands like Garnier.

The puppies with originally fawn colouring were painted black and presented for sale as 'Beagle', a popular and expensive canine breed, an animal rights activist said.

'Beagle' is a bread of small hound that is similar in appearance to the much larger foxhound, he said.

The artificial colour of puppies doesn't wear off easily. One can come to know about the cheating only after three to four months when the colour starts fading, he said.

Recently, a Mumbai-based animal rights NGO had written a letter to Member of Parliament and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi in this regard, he said.

Swapna Gupta, a Worli resident who works with an animal rights and welfare NGO, came across this racket last week when she posted an advertisement on social media putting her two stray pups for adoption.

A man, describing himself as an "animal rescuer" from suburban Jogeshwari, called up Gupta and said he knew two families who were interested in adopting the pups.

After adoption, the rescuer started neglecting Gupta's phone calls, following which she demanded her puppies back. When she got them back, Gupta, to her shock, found that the light brown puppies had turned black, the activist said.

During investigation, it came to light that the so called animal rescuer had dyed the puppies and was trying to sell them to animal lovers as expensive canine breeds, he said.

Gupta approached the Worli police station and filed a complaint against the animal rescuer, the official said.

"Her statement is being recorded after which we will register a case," he said.