Delhi couple leaves dog at pet boarding house, goes missing, then found dead

Nivedita Ghosh said the family was devastated by Milo’s death

New Delhi:

An elderly couple from Delhi’s Mayur Vihar left their dog in the care of a pet boarding house in Noida before traveling to Vadodara to meet their son. They did not even suspect that they would see their beloved for the last time. Milo the dog is dead and the horrifying video of two cyclists dragging him by the leash will haunt the family forever.

Nivedita Ghosh has filed a police complaint against Swati Sharma, who manages pets at the Paw’s Point boarding house, accusing her of negligence. The Ghosh family says that the day before she returned to Delhi, Ms Sharma called and offered a free session of care for Milo. Ms. Ghosh agreed. The next day, when they returned, they got another call from Ms. Sharma. She said the dog escaped when it was being returned to the pet shelter after being groomed.

The family reached the place in Noida Sector 119 where Milo had gone missing and started searching. When they couldn’t find him, they filed a police report. An FIR under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act was registered against Ms Sharma. When local residents were interviewed and CCTV footage from the neighborhood was found, a horrifying video emerged. It showed two people on a bicycle pulling Milo by the leash. The family says one of them is an employee at a pet shelter. Milo is said to have been forced to run alongside the motorcycle. At some point, the dog broke free and ran away. He was found dead the next day, probably from a car accident.

The family is devastated and has blamed the pet for the negligence that led to Milo’s death.

“It’s devastated us as a family. Milo was beaten and dragged by his leash across a busy road while two men were cycling. We just can’t come to terms with what happened. We are devastated and completely devastated. We left him in their care, and we found him dead, and this is how they take care of our beloved pets. How can they show the dog didn’t do it, he was dragged with the bike,” Ms. Ghosh told NDTV. She also said that the family kept asking Ms. Sharma for the records surveillance footage showed the pet climbing aboard while Milo was there, but she refused.

Photos of Milo have been shared on social media, and many pet parents and animal welfare organizations are calling for stricter penalties for pet owners.

When NDTV contacted Swati Sharma, who runs Paw’s Point, she denied that the two people on a bicycle who were seen pulling the dog by its leash were employees of the pet boarding house. “I was taking the dog after a haircut. I forgot to lock the car from the children and the dog rolled down the windows and jumped. I knew these two people and asked them to catch him. They did. Yes, one of them beat him up, but what could he do , if the dog ran away when they were looking for it, I told them that we had already killed the dog. I didn’t even collect money from them for 17 days,” she said.