22 March 2020 08:21 am
An island-wide curfew was declared over the weekend in order to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka. While the curfew resulted in a complete shutdown of services across the island, it has resulted in a unique problem for the large number of stray dogs in the hill-country estates.
A considerable number of stray dogs in the hill-country suburbs depend on food waste from restaurants, leftovers from fish markets as well as food provided by certain individuals in the area. With the closure of services since yesterday, we observed that these dogs were left hungry and roaming the towns in search of food. In Hatton, one stray dog was seen approaching several police officers on duty, asking for food. (Ranjith Rajapaksha-Hatton)