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The gruesome mauling of a seven-month-old toddler by stray dogs in a gated society in Noida, Uttar Pradesh brought back the focus on the increasing dog menace in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR).
The gruesome mauling of a seven-month-old toddler by stray dogs in a gated society in Noida, Uttar Pradesh brought back the focus on the increasing dog menace in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR).
The incidents, however, led to a division of opinion against dogs, considered man’s best friend for their age-old association with humans.
While many people have started questioning the presence of big, aggressive dogs in societies and also opposing the feeding of stray dogs inside apartment complexes or in the vicinity, animal lovers called for compassion while advocating for the sterilisation of stray animals.
A young child of a construction worker, who was working at the Lotus Boulevard Apartment in Noida’s Sector 100, was mauled to death by a stray dog on Monday evening.
Pained and agitated by the death of a young child, residents of the society held a protest. They demanded measures to prevent dog menace in the area.
The residents also held a protest on Tuesday outside the society and blocked the road. Some residents sat on the road and raised slogans against the Noida authority for not properly tackling the problem of stray dogs in the city.
Vinod Sharma, a resident of the society, said that they were very disturbed by the incident as the menace of stray dogs is rampant in their society. “We have been facing this problem for the past two-three years. Almost every month a dog had bitten someone. We need some immediate actions,” Sharma said.
Complaining about the pet lovers, Sharma said, “Our children play in society. A lot of stray dogs also roam freely in our society. Certain dog lovers do not allow the authorities to take action against stray dogs.”
Shaad, an MBA student, said, “I will anyway choose a human life over any other life form.”
Richa Tandon, a homemaker who owns a pug, pointed out some relevant points. “I have a pug at my home and we have big dogs in my native home. People need to understand that dogs need their space. The big dogs are not meant for flats, they are mostly farm dogs or meant to be in open spaces. For flats, I suggest one should have small dogs,” Tandon said.
According to a police officer of Sector 39 Police Station, under which the locality falls, no complaint was received regarding the killing of a child. He added that they have alerted the Noida authority and concerned agency to tackle the problem of stray dogs in the area.
“The infant belonged to a worker who worked at the construction site. The couple had kept their child near them while they were working at the site. A stray dog bit the infant and also dragged her for a few meters due to which she got critically injured. The infant was taken to hospital where she died during the treatment,” the police said.
Incidents of dog bites are not in the national capital region. Recently, a stray dog bit a woman at Prateek Laurel Society in Sector 10 of Noida on October 9. In Ghaziabad too, a stray dog had bitten an 11-year-old boy while walking inside the Amrapali Village society on October 2.
In fact, in a case of a dog attack in Tierra Society of Ghaziabad, the Sub Divisional Magistrate of Ghaziabad, Gunja Singh was attacked by a stray dog. Later, when a dog catcher came, some dog lovers gathered and staged a protest against them.
Recently incidents of pet dogs attacking locals in various societies of Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram also came to light.
Last month, an 11-year-old boy received 150 stitches on his face after an attack by a pet Pitbull. After this incident, Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC) restricted the adoption of aggressive dog breeds like – Pitbull, Rottweilers and Dogo Argentino – as pets in a house.
After such incidents, the administration and RWA (residents’ welfare associations) have to make some strict rules for people having pet dogs in their homes.
Animal rights activists suggest that the only process to control dog menace is sterilization. But dog lovers seem to be averse to the idea too.
“Beating or killing any animal is illegal. And stopping the authority from sterilizing animals is also illegal. You can feed the dog as per the Animal Birth Control Program of WHO and authority can sterilize them too,” said Abinav Srihan, who is an animal rights activist and also a member of an NGO called Fauna Police.
Srihan also said presently, they have 30 dogs in their homes and all of them are sterilised so that their number could not be increased.
Talking about the problems in high-rise societies, Srihan said that in such societies the dogs could not get that space where they could burn out their energy. “Pet lovers should also think about the breed before adopting dogs,” he pointed out.
