A 4-year-old girl named Soni passed away while two 5 and 7 years old children were seriously injured in an attack by stray dogs in Nangla Maheshwari village, which falls under the jurisdiction of Mandawar police station of Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor on 19th February. The three of them were headed to the sugarcane farms carrying food for their father. The villagers rushed to the location after hearing the girls’ cries and drove the dogs away. Afterwards, they admitted the victims to the hospital where one of them was pronounced dead. The other two girls were provided first aid and referred to a higher centre by doctors.
Neeraj Kumar Jadaun, Superintendent of Police (SP) said, “Three children were on their way to the fields with food for their father, small-time farmers when half-a-dozen strays attacked them. One of them sustained severe wounds on her neck and doctors of a private hospital declared her as ‘brought dead’. The other two girls, all of the same locality, suffered injuries on their face, neck and limbs, and were referred to a higher medical centre. Farmers from nearby areas came to their rescue.”
He added, “Parents should be more careful and we request them not to allow kids to go to the cane fields alone. Local administration is looking into this incident.” Purna Borah, Chief Development Officer of Bijnor stated, “We’ve appealed to villagers to take precautions. Efforts are on to catch the stray dogs.” Digambar Singh, youth state president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Arajnaitik) declared, “In the past year, 5,000 people were administered anti-rabies injections here.”
The occurrence has infuriated the villagers. People are scared because the street dog menace is growing dangerous on the streets and in the neighbourhoods of many towns and cities in the Bijnor district. According to villagers, dogs have already killed ten individuals including six children in the last fifteen months. Furthermore, thousands of people have sustained bites and other injuries. More than 50,000 people were vaccinated due to dog bites in the past year, excluding those who were vaccinated privately.
People revealed that just two days prior, Rita wife of Amar Singh, a hamlet resident was also assaulted by dogs and suffered injuries. The menace of stray dogs has become a serious concern for the people in the region. People are in a state of panic from the constant dog attacks and are afraid of sending their children outside, even to play. People have appealed to the authorities to take action regarding the matter.
Dog attacks are a regular occurrence in many parts of India. It has emerged as a major pan-India problem. Gaurav Tiwari, a police constable’s two-year-old son Atharva was bitten by four to five stray dogs on 26th January 26 during Republic Day festivities in the Barabanki region of Uttar Pradesh this year. He was pulled by the canines who then mauled and hurt him until his father and other police officers heard his piercing cries. The child was saved when the police arrived and frightened the dogs away. The victim was referred to Lucknow due to his critical state after he was taken to a district hospital.
A group of twenty street dogs in the village of Passan Kadim, Punjab, mauled a thirty-two-year-old woman to death on 7th February. The mutilated corpse of Pari Devi was discovered on the outskirts of Sultanpur Lodhi. Her family claimed that she went to graze livestock, a day earlier and has been untraceable ever since. The woman suffered bite wounds on her head and face, according to Gurdev Singh, the village sarpanch.
