Dogs killed on their holiday

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006:
KATMANDU, Nepal–Street sweepers on October 20 shocked
Narayan Municipality, a suburb of Dailekh, Nepal, by poisoning 23
dogs “on the first day of Tihar and even into Kukur Tihar–the second
day of the second greatest Nepalese festival,” reported Hariharsigh
Rathour of the Katmandu Post, explaining that “On the second day of
Tihar, dogs in Nepal are adorned with flower garlands around the
neck and red tika on the forehead. They are then offered a great meal
and then ritually worshipped.”
Narayan official Nirak Rawal told Rathour that the city had
asked locals to keep dogs indoors, “But we didn’t give any order to
kill stray dogs on Kukur Tihar,” he said.

“After the killing evoked wide condemnation,” Rathour
continued, “municipal executive officer Birendra Dev Bharati gave
directives to do the killing only after the festival. But as soon as
he left to celebrate, inebriated sweepers were found roaming with
poison bottles and meat.”