Stray dogs maul girl to death

RAJKOT: An eight-and-a-half-year-old girl was brutally mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs in Jesingpara locality adjoining Amreli town on Tuesday.
The girl, Anjita Dohadiya, was playing outside her house at the farm where her parents work as labourers. Suddenly, stray dogs pounced on her and bit her all over the body, police said, adding that there were nearly 15 canines according to eyewitnesses. Anjita screamed for help and her parents who were working in the field even rushed to her help. Though the farm owner reached there and started thrashing the dogs, they refused to let go of the girl.

However, she had suffered severe bite wounds and was bleeding profusely. She was rushed to a local hospital but had died by then. She was the only daughter of her parents who are natives of Jhabua village in Madhya Pradesh.

Stray dog menace has been plaguing several towns and villages of Saurashtra. Though the canines have sunk their teeth into many, this is a rare incident of a child being killed by them. There is no system in place in the Amreli municipality to tackle stray dog menace despite the problem assuming serious proportions. Several representations have been made by various groups but to no avail.

A pack of nearly 15-20 dogs are seen in most of the 20 localities in Amreli. In Jafrabad town alone, there are nearly 200 stray dogs.