Indore: Indore Municipal Corporation receives five to seven complaints about dog bites every day. The cases of dog bites increase in the city during monsoon, as it is their mating season and stray dogs become aggressive easily. School children who walk up to school bus stands early morning are an easy target for stray dogs.
IMC health officer Uttam Yadav said efforts are underway to curb stray dog menace. “But we have limitation. Dog rule 2001 states that one should leave dogs in the exact place after sterilisation. But when we try to leave the dogs back in the area, people stop us and ask us to take them away. This poses difficulty for us,” Yadav said.
Free Press discussed problems and solutions with doctor, animal activists and residents of various areas in the city.
Escaping dogs is challenge
“I was out with a friend at night a couple of days back. She and I were returning home from shopping. As we drove through lane near my house, dogs barked, growled and followed us. We were scared. I lost balance of my two-wheeler for a moment. Somehow, we managed to escape them. This is not an ordinary situation. Dogs are a problem in morning and night. Even during the day, a dog had bitten a little boy who lives in the colony. I don’t understand why no action is taken to control this. Isn’t human life as important as those of animals?”
Smart City with attacking dogs?
“I love walking. It is the best way for me to stay fit and relieve stress. However, even a simple walk turns into a stressful experience as stray dogs are always around. They bark all the time and attack unexpectedly. Every trip in the city via road is troublesome because of dogs. How can we be a Smart City if we can’t even take a walk in the city?”
Love and medicate dogs
“We are not scared of dogs in our colony because they recognise us. We feed them. However, once we go to other colonies, then it is a dreadful experience. I love pets. Stray dogs need to be treated. Instead of buying breed dogs, we should adopt stray dogs. However, over-pampering them is wrong. We need ensure that they don’t harm anyone. A little boy was bitten by a dog in Sudama Nagar Sector C recently. We should love animals, but also ensure they are medicated and sterilised.”
Sterilise dogs
“Dislocation of dogs is not a solution and not even allowed by law. Dogs tend to be a problem in monsoon. We can medicate dogs so that they remain calm and don’t attack people. We have received complaints from airport road area, LIG, Vijay Nagar, Nipana and Sudama Nagar. We have started the course of medicines for them. We need to sterilise dogs so that they are calm and don’t breed. This is not taken seriously by civic authorities even though Supreme Court had ordered all states to sterilise and vaccinate stray dogs to control their population and prevent rabies. People facing trouble with dogs in their colony can contact NGOs for medication and sterilisation.”