Sitapur (Uttar Pradesh): Nearly 15 people have been bitten by stray dogs in the past 24 hours in the Khairabad area of Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district, officials said.
There are distressing accounts of stray dogs mauling and injuring 15 individuals, including seven children, within the past day.
Among the victims are Rehan, 9; Mahendra, 7; and Shivani, 10; Altama, 10; Mohammad Kaif, 11; Ritesh, 4; Mohammed Sohail, 32; Abrar Ahmed, 32; Brajesh Kumar, 38; Kashi Ram, 27; Ramendra Shukla, 69, among others.
The families of these dog bite victims rushed them to Khairabad community health centre (CHC) for treatment.
The injured have since been discharged after receiving treatment, according to CHC officials.
Meanwhile, residents of Laliapur town cornered a stray dog that had been attacking children and beat the dog to death.
Municipal EO Prem Shankar Gupta said that a team from Lucknow will be summoned to capture the stray dogs.
At the same time, CHC Superintendent Ramashankar Yadav revealed, “Over the past month, 106 individuals have received rabies injections at the CHC.”
However, all attempts to contact District Magistrate of Sitapur proved futile.
The resurgence of dog bites in Khairabad is a matter of concern because six years ago, in 2017-18, dogs had unleashed terror when they attacked children in Mahsingpur, Budhanpur, Chaubeypur, Peepur, Tikariya, and Gurpalia villages in the Khairabad block of Sitapur.
During that period, 14 innocent children lost their lives due to dog bites, and 75 people were injured by these canines.
At that time, several animal rights activists protested against action targetting the dogs.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath himself visited Sitapur after taking note of the deaths of two innocent individuals in Gurpaliya village. He had issued directives to the Forest department and the district administration to apprehend stray dogs.
Subsequently, hundreds of dogs were captured by a special team of dog catchers from Lucknow.
–IANS