Blue Dogs Emerge In India Causing Outrage — Industrial Waste In River Blamed [Video]


The blue dogs of India aren’t just sporting a slight hue of blue, their fur is bright blue and quite disturbing to see. These blue dogs are a phenomenon, but is it a freak of nature or caused by the carelessness of humans?

India respects their dogs and there are laws protecting them, so when these stray dogs emerged in a Mumbai, India, neighborhood, there was cause for concern. Social media users suggested the bright blue might be a dye that is part of a dangerous pollutant.

The local news showed the eerie bright blue dogs walking along the street of Mumbai. When reports of these blue dogs started to emerge, it caught the eye of someone from National Geographic.

National Geographic spoke with the folks at the Navi Mumbai Animal Protection Cell (NMAPC) after they were able to catch one of the dogs and clean it up. The NMAPC reports that heavy rains had hit the area and washed the dogs clean of the blue coating.

According to the Weather Channel, NMAPC is blaming the “blue dye” that has changed the color of the dog’s fur on pollution from a river. The stray dogs of this town go to this river to cool off on hot days.

The NMAPC report that there are several dogs with blue fur and five of them have been treated by the animal protection group so far. An animal protection officer, Arati Chauhan, described what one of the strays looked like.

“It was shocking to see how the dog’s white fur had turned completely blue.”

The dogs that are now being treated by the NMAPC don’t appear to have any residual effects from the blue coating, but it still doesn’t explain how this rather odd event happened. According to the Hindustan Times, it is believed that an unnamed company has allegedly been dumping “untreated industrial waste” from their manufacturing plant into the Kasadi River.

The Kasadi River makes a path through an area that is home to “hundreds of factories,” but officials have a culprit in mind. The factory they believe is responsible for polluting the river with the substance turning fur blue is a company that manufactures detergent.

Officials will not release the name of the company while they have them under investigation. According to the Weather Channel, the local authorities are taking this matter seriously. They quote an MPCB spokesperson as saying the following.

“Allowing the discharge of dye into any water body is illegal. We will take action against the polluters as they are destroying the environment. We have directed our sub-regional officer to investigate.”

Officials in India report that the local regulatory agency, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, has opened an investigation into this matter. Within the next few weeks, this board is expected to release a full report on their findings.

The factory they believe is responsible for the blue coating on the dogs is fenced off, but there are holes in the wire that makes up their relatively “weak fence.” They believe the dogs went through those holes in the fence to swim in the river and cool off, which is where they were covered in the blue substance.

[Feature Image by M.Knox Gray/Shutterstock]

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