53-year-old woman killed by stray dogs in Begusarai

BEGUSARAI: In what came as the third such case under the same police station area during the last six months, a pack of stray dogs on Wednesday attacked and killed a 53-year-old woman in Begusarai district on Wednesday.
Mira Devi, a resident of ward number 11 under Bachhwara panchayat, was working in a field hardly 50 metres away from her house when a the dogs suddenly appeared and pounced on her after finding her alone.
By the time a few villagers working nearby could hear her screams and come forward for help, the ferocious canines mauled her to death and even scavenged her dead body.
Earlier, on the preceding Wednesday, a pack of stray dogs had attacked and killed one Shanti Devi (56) of Kadrabad panchayat under the same police station area in the district. On that occasion ,too, Shanti was on way to the field to cut grass for her livestock. According to Shanti's son Lakshman Sah, the dogs had already killed her mother before anyone could reach out for help. Rattled by the incident, the villagers later protested the failure of the local administration to drive away the canines from the area forcing local police to intervene to cool down them.
On June 1 this year, another woman, Manjula Devi (55) of Rudauli panchayat, was killed by stray dogs when she too was going alone to a field to work. According to Kanhaiya Jha, who lives in Rudauli panchayat, the dogs mostly target women, children or old men and attack while in a pack. To add to the horror of local villagers, they even scavenge the dead body.
"It has become a serious menace as over half a dozen other cases of such attacks by dogs on women and children were reported during the last few months. However, the local administration seems to lack any plan to get rid of this menace," he said.