SRINAGAR: Residents of Srinagar and across much of the rest of Kashmir continue to live in fear of the stray dogs. In another shocking incident, stray packs in Shanpora Habak area of Srinagar city became the cause of death of an 8 month old baby girl.
The family members of Shafia Ahad said that a week before, she was in her room sleeping, when stray dogs made their entry into the room through window and mauled her. I was busy in domestic chorus and was aghast to see dogs mauling my baby. She received multiple bites all over her body, the mother of baby girl said.
The baby was shifted to G.B.Panth Hospital where she received 47 stitches in her face. The baby breathed her last Monday afternoon.
The doctors, who treated her at the G.B.Panth Hospital, said the baby has received the deadly category III bites, feared to cause incurable rabies. They said that baby breathed her last because of rabies infection.
With no let up in dog attacks and government failure to check the menace, the stray packs targeted scores of people in our area and elsewhere, affected family said.
At least 20 persons have died of rabies in the past five years while 80000 cases of dog bites have been reported in the Kashmir Valley during this period, according to official figures.
The data reveals that hospitals run by the Directorate Health Services Kashmir have alone recorded 58095 dog bite cases from 2008 to 2012. This is excluding the figures registered by the Anti-Rabies Clinic (ARC) at the SMHS Hospital here where officials say 22649 such cases have been registered in the past five years.
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