GAUHATI, India — Authorities in India’s northeastern state of Nagaland have banned the sale of dog meat and halted the import and trading of dogs to be used for food, officials said Saturday. The remote Christian-majority state’s Chief Secretary Temjen Toy said in a tweet that the state government banned all commercial import and trading of dogs and also the sale of dog meat, both cooked and uncooked. The move followed an appeal earlier in the week by Indian lawmaker Maneka Gandhi, who urged the Nagaland government to act. The appeal led to more than 125,000 people writing to the Nagaland government to urge the banning of the dog trade and the sale of dog meat. “This is a major turning point in ending the cruelty in India’s hidden dog meat trade,” animal rights advocacy group Humane Society International said in a statement.

Source: International New York Times July 04, 2020 09:45 UTC