Srinagar: With over one lakh stray dogs prowling in Srinagar city alone and more than 10000 people have been bitten from last five years, the canine-human conflict has become a routine in the vale. Over 4000 children- mostly in the age group of 3-12 years- have been bitten so far.
The latest dog bite case is mauling of four year old kid of downtown area, Srinagar by a pack of stray dogs and is right now under treatment at SKIMS hospital.
The kid is in critical condition from the last two days in the intense Surgical Unit (ICU) SKIMS where doctors are treating him. The face and head of the kid is severely mauled.
The picture of the kid shows that his face is brutally mauled, one of the eyes is totally damaged and the nose of the kid has been bitten by these dogs.
The dogs have become very dangerous; every locality caters more than 4000 dogs in Srinagar where there is every possibility that they can attack human beings.
The casualty is children and women, though men are also bitten by these stray packs. It is heartening and disturbing when you are treating a child who has been mauled by these dogs.
This definitely is more disturbing than someone killed by a bullet or knife because the pain and agony caused by this menace is undesirable, said Dr. Altaf Hussain childrens specialist.
I dont think government is serious enough to curb this menace, every single day dog bite cases are referred to hospitals and people are helpless because one doesnt have any such mechanism to stop dog biting.
For many years dogs have come up three fold of their population, where there is no specific plan to stop their population. This has led to up burst of dog population and resulting in frequent dog bite cases, said Zareef Ahmed Zareef, a social activist.
The gestation period of dogs is 50- 60 days which may increase by a few days. It means after every two months a female dog gives birth to average 4 puppies and they grow into dogs at an age of 7 months to 1 year.
The number of births may increase upto 10 puppies. So, dog population grows 6 times more than human beings where the gestation period is 9 months and one child on an average is born.
The number of deaths as per records is nearly touching 1000 for past six years. The most deaths are of kids. Last two years 80 kids in the state were bitten in which 23 kids died.
SMC Commissioner Mr. Showkat Zargar said, The dog population is definitely increasing. There are more than 40000 dogs in Srinagar city alone. We can catch them at once, we are on the process of sterilization but I think that is not enough, we have to make an extra effort to uproot this menace. Government has to think about it as there is a blanket ban on killing of dogs.
As there are more than hundreds of petition lying in High Court for dog menace, time only will tell how many more dog bite deaths are on cards.
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