In a harrowing incident, a pack of stray dogs attacked and mauled to death a five-year-old boy in the outskirts of Bengaluru on June 25. Soladevanahalli, the area where the incident occurred, comes under Nelamangala Town Municipality in Bengaluru Rural District.
The Incident
Durgesh, the deceased, was the fourth child among five children of two migrant labourers, Mallappa and Mallamma, from Kalaburagi. He was attacked by five stray dogs while he was on his way back home after buying biscuits.
A case has been registered by police based on the parents’ complaint. Doctors at a private hospital declared Durgesh dead at 1:30 pm. He died due to excessive bleeding.
“I returned home from work for lunch and Durgesh told me he was ill and didn’t want to eat rice. So he took Rs 5 from me to buy a packet of biscuits. After I gave him the money, I went to have a bath. A little later, I heard my son screaming. I rushed out and found nearly a dozen dogs attacking my son. Passersby chased the dogs away,” The Times Of India quoted Mallapa as saying.
Locals said that the dogs usually ate meat thrown-out by local butchers and those lying at local waste dumps.
In a similar incident earlier, a stray dog bit a five-year-old girl in Neelasandra within Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits.
Data contested by experts reveal that in the last nine years, 1.7 lakh cases of dog bites have been registered.
What Is The Solution?
Incidents like these naturally incite anger and frustration among people against stray dogs who often prove to be a menace.
However, it is essential that we adopt a humane way of treating these animals. Killing them is not an option.
Tapashi Dey, a mathematics tutor from Kolkata, is among a group of people who feed scores of stray dogs in their locality every day.
Speaking to The Logical Indian, Tapashi says, “both for people who are dog lovers and those who are not, adopting birth control measures for stray dogs is essential. I am a dog lover and I don’t want to see the dog population increasing and being tormented by humans, which is very common.”
“To curb incidents like the one that occurred in Bengaluru, birth control is again the option and yes, the most humane way of doing it is sterilizing the dogs. We have ensured that each dog in our locality is sterilized, and if groups of people take up this initiative in every locality, dealing with these problems will become much easier.”
It is important that authorities and individuals, including dog lovers, take up the initiative to ensure that as many dogs as possible are sterilized and the stray dog menace is curbed, for the well being of both human beings and the animals.
