In a shocking incident, stray dogs mauled an infant to death at a government hospital in Rajasthan after taking him away from his sleeping mother.
The infant's father was undergoing treatment in the Sirohi government hospital. The month-old baby was asleep with his mother and two siblings on the floor beside his father's bed when the dogs took him away, said police officials.
His mutilated body was recovered near a water tank outside the ward but surprisingly the CCTV failed to capture the incident.
The incident was brought to light by Sirohi MLA Sanyam Lodha, when he narrated it in the Rajasthan Assembly on Tuesday. The incident happened on Monday night.
As per district collector Bhanwar Lal, the nursing officer Suresh Meena has been suspended for negligence, and services of guard Bhavani Singh and ward boy Ujjawal Devasi have been terminated.
Stray dogs menace in India
In a recent survey, 61 percent respondents stated that stray dog attacks were common in their area. An overwhelming 90 percent of them felt that authorities had failed to take effective steps.
While cruelty to animals cannot be pardoned, Indian cities have been reporting an alarming increase in stray dog menace, making life perilous and difficult for people, especially children and the old.
An estimated 80 million homeless cats and dogs in India are living in shelters or on the streets, according to the State of Pet Homelessness Index report. PETA or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an NGO, demands sterilising female dog as the immediate solution.
"Sterilising one female dog can prevent 67,000 births in six years, and sterilising one female cat can prevent 4,20,000 births in seven years," says PETA on its website. Sterilised animals also lead longer, healthier lives and, in the case of males, are less likely to roam, fight, or bite.
Irrespective of the increasing stray dog menace, in November 2022, three Nagpur women moved to the Supreme Court challenging the October 2022 verdict of the Bombay High Court that prohibited the feeding of stray dogs and stipulated that people interested in feeding strays must first formally adopt them.
However, the Supreme Court had stayed the order of the High Court and ordered the municipal authorities to demarcate appropriate locations where the general public could feed the stray dogs.
As judicial pronouncements and NGO activism weghed heavily on urban local bodies, the municipal authorities have shown little inclination to act against the menace of street dogs. Indian cities are now home to one of the largest street dog populations on earth, standing at 62 million as per a recent report, and the largest number of rabies deaths in the world.
A report by the World Health Organization (WHO) said rabies in India in 2021 constituted dog bites by 99 percent, accounting for 36 percent of world's rabies deaths. The annual figure of rabies deaths in India, based on WHO figures would be 21,240.
It is estimated that 390,000 dogs are euthanised in shelters in the US each year. In Australia, approximately 200,000 dogs are brought to animal shelters every year. About 20 percent of them are euthanised and those dogs that display very aggressive behaviour are eliminated on priority. Similarly, it is estimated that about 20,000 dogs are put down in UK each year.
(With inputs from agencies)
