Stray dog menace on rise again in Bangalore South

Stray dog menace on rise again in Bangalore South
The Times of India

Bangalore: What’s the death of a 46-yearold due to a heart attack got to do with the increasing stray dog numbers in Jayanagar, one may ask? This incident of August last could well be the reminder that the authorities need to deal effectively with the menace.

“At around midnight my brother started feeling uncomfortable,’’ recollects Siraj Pasha, a resident of RBI Colony, Jayanagar. Realising it was an emergency, Pasha got to his two-wheeler to go to the nearest medical store when over ten stray dogs pounced on him from nowhere. By the time he managed to escape from them and fetch the medicines, his brother had died of a heart attack.

“The incident might be old now, but the pain of having lost those ten valuable minutes fighting the stray dogs will always be with me,’’ says Pasha.

After a brief lull, the stray dog menace is on the rise once again, especially in Bangalore South. This is despite the claims made by animal rights

organisations and the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) about keeping the canine population under control.
With an average of 60 stray dogs within a mere 5 km area, the residents are facing a hard time. “I have stopped going for my early morning walks after I was attacked by dogs at 5.30 am,’’said V S Ramachandran, a 62-year-old resident of market area in Jayanagar 9th block.

Children too have been forbidden from playing outside in the evening after a threeyear-old was bitten by a stray dog a week back. “The boy from our neighbourhood was playing in front of his gate in the evening when he was bitten by stray dogs,’’ said Mohammed Asif of Jayanagar 3rd block, who was witness to the incident.

The residents claim that the 27-acre empty plot adjacent to the RBI Layout and other smaller empty plots which have been converted into dumping grounds are attracting the dogs. The 27-acre plot touches Tilaknagar, Bannerghatta and Jayanagar on its other three sides.

“Instead of rounding-up stray dogs from our locality, the authorities release the dogs caught in other areas of the city into this plot,’’ said Pasha. When contacted, member of the Animal Right Fund Poornima Harish said: “We have been visiting the areas as per the ward schedule, which is every week. I will look into the matter and resolve the residents’ problems.’’