Two more children were mauled to death by ferocious stray dogs in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh taking the toll to 13 children in the last four months.
Four more children fell victim to stray dogs in khairabad area of Sitapur when they were attacked on Friday morning in separate incidents. Two among them died on the spot while remaining two are admitted in the district hospital in serious condition.
Seven-year-old Geeta of Masoompur village had gone out when a herd of stray dogs attacked her. Her mutilated body was later found by villagers. In another incident in nearby Budhnapur village, 10-year-old Virendra had gone to the mango orchard on Friday morning when stray dogs bitten him badly. He couldnot even raise and alarm and died on the spot.
In Chaubeypur and Peerpur villages in Khairabad area, Rinki (1) and Rinkal (8) sustained multiple injuries when they were attacked by a herd of dogs. Both are admitted in a district hospital in serious conditions.
Earlier, three children were mauled to death by stray dogs in Tikaria, Gurpalia and Pahadpur village two days ago. So far 13 children have died and over 100 injured in attacks for ferocious dogs.
Agitated over deaths of children, villagers have taken up arms against stray dogs following inaction by state and district administration. They have so far shot and killed over 10 dogs with their licensed weapons in the last 48 hours in different parts of Sitapur district.
They are so scared that they would chase and beat any dog with lathis to death on seeing them in their villages. Some of them who have licensed arms are using them openly on stray dogs. Even policemen are so scared of these ferocious dogs that they are using their rifles to fire shots on them. A video of a policeman firing at dog is making rounds in social media.
“We have advised people having pet dogs to keep them in chain at home till the end of the stray dog menace,” said a senior district official.
The stray dog attack has become such a big issue that the Samajwadi Party Chief Akholesh Yadav sent a party delegation to meet the vicim’s family and submit a report so that the issue can be taken with the Governor Ram Naik.
The City Magistrate H.D. Pandey said that they have captured ten stray dogs. “We have formed a team of 22 officials and several police men to catch these dogs attacking children. We have captured ten dogs on Friday,” claimed the City Magistrate.
A team of expert dog catching squad has been called from Mathura district. “We will camp in Khairabad for next ten days to catch all stray dogs,” said Shakeel, head of the squad.
