Karimnagar: Scary stray dog attacks force people to stay home

In the last two months, the erstwhile district has seen some of the most brutal stray dog attacks it ever witnessed.

Karimnagar: After the Covid pandemic, when ‘stay home stay safe’ was a common refrain, seldom have people in Karimnagar stayed home considering their safety. This time, it is not the corona virus that they fear, but the snarling packs of stray dogs prowling outside on their streets, waiting to attack them without the slightest of provocations.

In the last two months, the erstwhile district has seen some of the most brutal stray dog attacks it ever witnessed. Even as people were to recover from the shock of an 18 month-old-boy being mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs in Jawahar Nagar, they had to wake up to the news of an elderly woman Pitla Rajyalakshi (82) being killed by stray dogs when she was asleep in her hut in Battuvanithalla, Sevalal thanda of Mustabad mandal in Rajanna-Sircilla. The dogs bit off her head and ate parts of her body too. About 31 persons were injured in stray dog attacks in Huzurabad municipality limits on July 17 and 18. Around 25 of these were attacked in a span of 90 minutes.

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As if these were enough, the dogs showed that no place, no person was immune from their attacks, when they attacked 14 people including a Tahsildar, right on the premises of the district collectorate.

While animal activists are blaming local bodies for the situation, Animal Husbandry department officials are planning to take up the Animal Birth Control programme in a big way.

Speaking to Telangana Today, animal activist for Stray Animal Foundation of India NGO, Adulapuram Goutham, said the present situation emerged as local bodies were not implementing ABC programmes. ABC rules were framed in 2001. As the rules were not implemented, some of the animal activists approached the High Court. On June 10, 2022, the court directed the government to implement the ABC programme within three months. However, despite instructions, it was not done by local bodies. Besides sterilization, vaccination was mandatory according to ABC norms. As anti-rabies vaccinations were not being administered, the situation aggravated, he said.

A retired Joint Director of the Animal Husbandry department, Dr Narender termed dogs attacks as the most worrying factor and called for taking up the ABC programme in a massive way like ‘Pulse Polio’. The State government should take a policy decision to take up ABC operations across the State since gram panchayats would not have sufficient funds to take up the programme on their own. Not only municipalities, all local bodies should continue it. It should be continued for three to four years continuously without any disturbance, he said.

With the High Court instructing the State government to take up measures to curb the menace of stray dogs attacks, the government instructed municipal authorities to form committees to control stray dogs. Based on the instructions, municipalities are gearing up to take up ABC operations. While the Municipal Corporation of Karimnagar is making arrangements for it, the Sircilla municipality is also planning to launch sterilization operations soon.