Bengaluru: A couple of days after the BBMP’s decision to limit the number of dogs that can be kept in apartments and individual houses, a stray dog attacked a 10-year-old girl on Friday. This reveals the BBMP’s failure to curb the dog menace. The civic body has also failed to set up a dog squad to periodically check dog vaccinations and take up the animal birth control (ABC) programme. Chaitanya, a class fifth student, was attacked on Thursday night as she returned from a shop at Azadnagar, Chamarajpet.
When she started screaming, passersby and her mother Shilpa Lokesh chased away the dog and rushed Chaitanya immediately taken to a nearby hospital. The girl, who was bitten on her waist, was traumatised. Chaitanya was given anti-rabies and anti-septic vaccinations, said Ms Shilpa. She said that 2nd Main, 4th cross of Chamarajpet has around six dogs, which are fed by a woman in the area. “The same dog has bitten people before. The BBMP, instead of restricting dogs in homes should restrict the street dogs. They are the menace, not pets,” she said.
“Although the complaint was filed on Thursday night, soon after the dog attacked my daughter, the dog squad came only on Friday. They came only after the issue was elevated to the local corporator. Why is BBMP so callous?”
“Doctors have prescribed five injections in the next 20 days,” said Ms Shilpa. A BBMP official said the dog was caught soon after. “The dog will be kept under observation. It will also be checked if the dog has been vaccinated,” he said. Dog lovers, activists and pet parents had warned that limiting the number of dogs per house would result in abandoning of dogs and the problem of stray dog will only multiply.
