320 dog-bite cases in 4 months in Nabha

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Nabha, May 21

The stray dog menace continues to be a grave problem for residents of the erstwhile princely town as about 320 dog-bite cases have been reported during the first four months of the year.

As per data collected from the local Civil Hospital, on an average about 80 new dog-bite cases have been reported per month. There has been a spurt in the cases due to the increase in temperature and interestingly, about 10 to 12 cases were being reported from rural areas daily.

Dharampal Sharma, a city resident and social activist, said influential people prefer to go to private clinics due to the cumbersome procedure at government hospitals, adding that such cases did not reflect in the government data.

He said the children were scared to play in the open and people fear moving out due to the presence of dogs in various areas. The administration should start a sterilisation programme to check 

the population of the canines in the area.

On Saturday, a seven-year-old boy was attacked and mauled to death by around 12 dogs in Thuhi village.

Another city resident Rajinder Singh Sidhu said only sterilising dogs was not the solution. He said the district administration should set up canine homes where these 

stray dogs could be kept and sterilised to check their population.

He said dogs feed on garbage bins and waste lying in the open. He said the problem was aggravated by residents who feed dogs without realising that it would further add to the peril.

Executive Officer MC Mohit Sharma said earlier they had sterilised the dogs with the help of an NGO.

He said they would again seek help to sterilise stray dogs to check their population. He added that the government should set up canine homes where they could be kept.

MC president Rajneesh Jindal said they had earlier started a sterilisation programme and caught animals to drop them at secluded places. However, the MC had to face problems as animal lovers had lodged cases against them.

He said the recent dog-bite incident in which a boy lost his life was shocking, adding that the state government or the Central Government should take up an initiative to tackle the menace.