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Kalubowila Hospital faces accusations of dog disappearance
Kohuwala police claim to be waiting until the Covid-19 situation is under control to inquire into a complaint by animal rights activists that several dogs in the Colombo South (Kalubowila) Teaching Hospital premises are missing and were possibly euthanised.
“I was told by the Director that the hospital is full of Covid-19 patients, and that all doctors are attending to patients. Given the current pandemic situation we cannot take a risk by sending our officers, but are waiting until the Covid-19 situation is under control,” Officer-in-Charge of Kohuwala Police, Chief Inspector H H Harison said.
“We lodged a complaint at the Kohuwala Police Station because the Director of the Hospital (Dr Pradeep Wijesinghe) failed to give us accurate whereabouts of the dogs who went missing,” Justice for Animals and Nature Director Jaliya Perera said.
Colombo South (Kalubowila) Teaching Hospital
“The dogs, who were petted even by staff members, were considered friendly to humans and were vaccinated, too. Some had been there for close to a decade, and there was one that was deaf and another suffering from blindness,” Mr Perera said.
“There have been attempts by the hospital to get the Colombo Municipal Council’s Veterinary Department to remove the dogs, but as the hospital does not come under the CMC’s purview, they contacted the Anti-Rabies Unit of the Health Ministry.
“Hospital staff who were fond of the dogs allege that the dogs were anaesthetised by a junior Veterinary Officer from the unit and taken away at night in a vehicle belonging to the hospital,” the activist said.
Despite several requests for information on the whereabouts of the dogs, the welfare group said it had not been given accurate directions.
“We were given a location outside Piliyandala. We went there on two consecutive days in order to collect and re-home them at a welfare centre, or a better place, but we couldn’t find the dogs,” he said.
Mr Perera said at his request the President of Justice for Animals and Nature and former MP, Ven Omalpe Sobhitha Thero, had asked the hospital Director where the dogs are, but had been told Dr Wijesinghe did not know anything about it.
Dr Wijesinghe told the Sunday Times the administration of the hospital was not involved in the removal of the dogs from the premises.
“Since I took over as Acting Director, when former Director Dr Asela Gunawardena became the Director-General of Health Services, there were two dog-bite incidents, one involving a house officer and another concerning a patient,” he said.
“I was under quarantine when the incident took place. There is a possibility of workers removing the dogs and taking them somewhere, but there was definitely no killing,” he said.
Dr Wijesinghe asked animal welfare organisations to collect the remaining stray dogs within the hospital premises and place them in safe shelters, as the hospital was receiving increasing numbers of Covid-19 patients. There are more than 100 patients in the hospital stricken with the virus, and two deaths were reported on Thursday.