Stray dogs snatch infant from cradle in Ahmedabad

AHMEDABAD: A seven-month-old girl was taken from her cradle and dragged away by four stray dogs on Thursday evening.
Pooja, the daughter of labourers, was put in the cradle near Sonal Cinema Road in Sarkhej while her parents were working. Some four stray dogs suddenly attacked the child in the cradle.
The dogs dragged her some distance away, biting and scratching her. A few people in the area chased away the dogs and saved the child. The incident was caught on CCTV camera.
The child suffered serious wounds from the bites and scratches and was taken to Civil Hospital. She was discharged after treatment.
Haji Mirza, the Congress councillor from Maktampura ward, said the attack took place on Thursday evening. "The parents were working at a construction site near Sonal Cinema Road and had put the infant in a cradle. Suddenly stray dogs attacked the child.
The 7-month-old girl would have died had residents not chased away the dogs in time," Mirza said.
Mirza said this is proof that the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has failed miserably in controlling the stray canine population, despite spending crores on sterilizing stray dogs.
Ahmedabad city has registered 58,668 cases of dog bites in 2022, 7,457 more than in 2021.
According to AMC data, the most dog bites in 2022 were reported in December, when hospitals and urban health centres registered 5,880 cases of dog bites.
Sources in the AMC said dog bite cases reduced in the 2020-2021 period because of the lockdowns. In 2019, hospitals and UHCs in the city had registered 65,881 dog bite cases, which fell to 51,244 in 2020 and further to 50,668 in 2021.
"However, as 2022 saw activities resume, cases of dog bites increased ," an Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation official said. He said the 2022 figure is still lower than the 2019 figure.