Lucknow: The nightmare continues for UP’s Sitapur district residents as the menace of feral stray dogs continues to hound people and their kids. On Saturday, a nine-year-old boy was attacked and killed by hounds in Talgaon area when he went out to graze goats in a field.
Speaking about the incident, SHO Yogesh Shah said, “Talgaon is almost 20 kilometres away from Khairabad and this is the first such incident in the area. We have been instructed by to patrol the area in the morning.” This was confirmed by IG (Lucknow range) Sujeet Pandey.
However, the Sitapur district administration blamed the incidents on closure of illegal abattoirs, which provided leftover meat to stray dogs. Including this, the number of deaths due to canine attacks has reached 12 since November last year.
Speaking to the media on the issue, District Magistrate of Sitapur, Sheetal Verma said, “The closure of illegal slaughterhouses in Khairabad Municipal Corporation seems to be the reason why dogs are attacking children. Earlier, the dogs were feeding on the remains of slaughtered animals disposed of by the illegal slaughterhouses. Now, the hounds are not getting meat and thus may have started attacking children.”
Verma further added that the disposal of animal carcasses has been prohibited in Khairabad, which was also a source of food for dogs. “We have constituted teams which include police officers, forest officials, and villagers to curb the attacks,” she said.
Parents in Sitapur district are terrified to the extent that they have stopped sending their kids to school, resulting in a deep drop in attendance. As per DIOS Sitapur, Devki Singh, “The schools in Khairabad area have seen a big drop in attendance recently. Subsequently, directions were issued to all that students must be accompanied by their parents to school and some adult of the family should take them back after school. Teachers have been told to make the children aware of the context.”
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