Kengeri witnesses multi-fold increase in dog bites
Street dog attacks have become a point of worry for the residents in Kengeri
Surbhi Kaul/30th September 2023
Kengeri witnessesed a multi fold increase in dog bite cases from last year making it difficult for the residents to walk on the streets. The hospital records of BGS GIMS Hospital, Kengeri depicted that there has been an increase from 7 cases in May-Dec 2022 to 150 cases in Jan-Aug 2023.
Residents in Kengeri and Kumbalgodu said that they are afraid of walking on the streets as stray dogs often attack them resulting in some of them getting severely injured. Chandru, a resident in Kumbalgodu said, “At night, around 9-10 dogs in groups gather on streets and create hurdles for the people riding on two wheelers. I was riding on my bike and these dogs suddenly surrounded me, I fell off the bike and got injured. These dogs also attack on other pet animals.”
According to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) website, BBMP is responsible for the population control of stray dogs through implementation of street dog sterilisation program (ABC-ARV program) as per the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules—2001.
However, BBMP official, Dr. Ravi Kumar, Joint Director of Animal Husbandry Department claimed that they are facing various challenges while implementing the ABC-ARV program. “We have no land to create ABC centres and we are paying rent of 40,000 every month on the existing ABC centres. We lack anaesthesia experts to anesthetize the dogs with dart guns because it becomes extremely difficult to catch the dogs.”
The PFA Wildlife Animal Hospital, an NGO which looks after the sterilization and vaccination of street dogs, its General Manager, Colonel Nawaz Sharif provided a solution for the sudden increase in the dog bite cases. “There is an increase in the dog population in Bangalore. Not just in urban areas but villages too. Hence, there is a need of a proper implementation of ABC program.”
BBMP official also asserted that for the ABC-ARV program to be executed effectively and to decrease the dog bite cases there is a need of more ABC centres in the future.
