Dogs Saved from Catch and Kill Snatchers Who Bury Them Alive on Paradise Island of Mauritius After Campaign by Daily Mail

Daily Mail’s undercover investigation of the cruelty practiced by the laughably-named Mauritian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ultimately quashed it and ushered in new policy of mass sterilisation of the island's stray dog population.

Two years ago journalists followed the dog-catcher vans and witnessed unspeakable cruelties to family pets and strays alike.

Hurled into trucks from giant nets, many breaking their legs in the process, kept in a concrete shelter in sweltering 40C temperatures for up to three days in case anyone claimed them for a high cash bounty, the dogs died by their thousands with injections to their hearts in a race against nature.

Hurled into trucks from giant nets, many breaking their legs in the process, kept in a concrete shelter in sweltering 40C temperatures for up to three days in case anyone claimed them for a high cash bounty, the dogs died by their thousands with injections to their hearts in a race against nature.

The dogs always bred faster than they could be killed. But the MSPCA, now disbanded and reformed as the the Mauritian Society for Animal Welfare, was a powerful lobby which defended the euthanasia policy in the face of protests from animal rights groups around the world.

Most of all, it didn't like what it perceived as colonial patronage - the former rulers of this sun-kissed land telling locals what to do.

But the negative coverage generated globally by the Daily Mail was a wake-up call to those in power.

The phones rang off the hooks in protest at Mauritian embassies and missions around the world, shocked by our photos and the descriptions of the dogs' executions.

Mauritian leaders, urged on by Drupnarainsing Dabeedial of the Ministry of Agro Industry and Food Security, knew that any organised tourist boycott would be a stake through the body of the island economy.

The UK-based International Animal Rescue charity posted on its website: 'In spring 2012, having been alerted to the MSPCA’s activities by International Animal Rescue, the Daily Mail carried out its own undercover investigation in Mauritius.

'The evidence was chilling: the article, printed in the paper on 10 April 2012, described the cruel and indiscriminate methods of catching and killing dogs in Mauritius – a massive 80 per cent of which are people’s pets snatched off the streets by dog catchers.

'In response to public outcry at the MSPCA’s practices and with offers of support and assistance coming from NGOs within and outside Mauritius, the government took decisive action with the introduction of the Mauritius Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Temporary Provisions) Bill.'  Sterilisation has now replaced canine slaughter.

'The Daily Mail changed everything,' said Lucy Ramlochun, 45, formerly from Brighton in Sussex who is married to a Mauritian and manages the local branch of animal welfare group Protection of Animals Welfare Society (PAWS).

'They hated it. They knew that tourists love animals and would be so angry to see that this was how they treated the native dog population.

'There has been a complete turnaround in the mindset of people.  Before the Mail article dogs were generally regarded as a nuisance, a pest.  But it doesn't take much to show kindness.

'Now people come in off the street with baskets of puppies they have found abandoned. They bring in the strays from their neighbouhood to be sterilised.

'They have come to regard them as creatures worthy of life and dignity.  It is a wonderful thing to see this kindness towards other living things.'

The MSPCA was dissolved last June and replaced by the new body which worked with PAWS to carry out a mass stray-population survery on Mauritius.

It was estimated there were between 60,000 to 80,000 strays, over one for every 20 human inhabitants.

The government decided to back the call for sterilisations and last November switched the 209,000 pound annual killing budget for dogs towards the costs of sterlising them with the help of an army of international vets and volunteers.

Thousands of animals have since been neutered but tens of thousands still need to be operated upon.

South African-born Moira Van Der Westhuizen, president of PAWS in Mauritius and the owner of five dogs she saved from the streets, said: 'The catch-and-kill vans only roll out now if there is a direct complaint about a potentially dangerous stray being spotted near a school, a hotel or a hospital, things like that.  Otherwise, we are now all systems go on the sterilisation programme.

'The MSAW has launched an awareness campaign among locals and the dogs are being brought into clinics for operations at an increasing rate.

'I think the catch-and-kill policy didn't sit well with most of the locals but it was all they knew at the time.  Now they know there is a different way, a more human way, and they are embracing that.

'When every animal that is stray is sterlised there will eventually be no more stray dogs on Mauritius and no more cruelties.  It has been a big change around within a very small time period.'

Locals Meenakshi Roopchand and her husband Vikram brought in a tiny puppy they found wandering outside their home for sterilisation at the PAWS clinic on the day the Mail visited.

She said: 'It didn't sit well with a lot of people, these vans rounding up and killing dogs.

'Often people would telephone their friends and neighbours down the road to tell them that the dog catchers were on the way and to get their pets indoors.

'Many Mauritians have dogs that don't live in their homes but wander around the neighbourhood.  They were easy prey for the dog catchers who were lazy and would often take dogs from front gardens to make up their quotas.

'Sterilisation is the humane and decent thing to do and that is why most Mauritians welcome it.'

The Mauritian government said it was 'working towards an equitable solution to the problem of strays through sterilisation' - a far cray from the policy of mass dog murder which had been underway upon the island since the 1970s.

Tanya McAra, 30, a young South African volunteer for PAWS in Mauritius, helps out at the clinic where animals are sterilised at a cost of £20 a time and recuperate aferwards on soft mats strewn around the tiled waiting room.

She too says the change in the mindset of locals has been astonishing in the past couple of years. 

'The MSPCA had become autonomous and powerful and lost sight of the compassion needed for animals with its rigid programme of wanting to control the canine population through killing alone,' she said.

'Now you see people bringing in baskets of abandoned puppies to be neutered.  Dogs are not chained up as much as they once were and people are less inclinded to chase them and throw stones at them.

'I help out when I can but it is the change in the consciousness of people that has helped the most in Mauritius.'

Ian Knight, CEO of International Animal Rescue, added:  'I am delighted by this news and the Mauritian commitment to a humane system of population control.

'Time will prove that not only is sterilisation the kindest way to control stray dog populations, it is also the most effective method.'