Canine terror: Dog bite incidents on rise in Ludhiana

Dog bite incidents are increasing at an alarming rate in Ludhiana, with the city registering a 45% increase in canine attacks in March as compared to the previous month.

According to the data retrieved from civil hospital, 853 new cases of dog bites have been registered in March, a 45% rise as compared to 587 and 507 cases reported in February and January respectively.

A huge rush of over 50-60 dog bite victims is witnessed at the civil hospital every day.

Sapna, in charge of anti-rabies department at the hospital said, “Around 150-200 vaccine doses are administered every day. With one vial, we can administer four doses, and we end up using around 40-45 vials a day. The maximum number of patients are daily wagers like auto-drivers, laborers, house helps, especially those who have duties either during the early or late hours of the day.”

An 8-year-old boy, who was in line in the hospital’s anti-rabies department to get his second dose, said “while playing cricket with my friends in the park, I was bitten by a stray dog while I was running to catch a ball.”

Anti- rabies vaccine comprises of four doses. The first dose of the course should be administered as soon as possible after exposure. Additional doses should be administered on days 3, 7, and 14 after the first vaccination.

Anti-rabies vaccine is given free of cost at all community health centres, sub-divisional hospitals and the civil hospital. In private clinics and hospitals, each dose costs ₹350-400 and the total four doses ₹1,400-1,700.

As per officials, currently, there is no shortage of anti-rabies vaccine in the district but sometimes delay occurs in the supply from the head office.

In some areas within Ludhiana city, people are afraid to go for morning or post dinner walks due to stray dogs.

“Stray dogs rule the roads during the early and late hours of the day. It is the only time when one can go out for a walk, but owing to the terror of stray dogs, I do not think that it is safe to go out alone as they may attack anyone at any time,” said Kavita Jain, resident of Ghumar Mandi.

Several residents also feel scared to take their pet dogs out for a walk.

“I have a one-year-old Shih Tzu. I take my dog for walk either on my terrace or house lawn, but never outside as stray dogs might attack the dog,” Anushka, a resident of Dr. Shyam Road, said.

MC veterinary officer Dr Pratishth Batish told HT, “Municipal corporation is sterilising and vaccinating stray dogs on a regular basis. Around 1,500 dogs are sterilised every month and are given anti-rabies vaccine after the operation. In recent years, MC has successfully sterilised 80,000 dogs. However, as per the protocol, we cannot operate dogs younger than 8 months and bitches that are still nursing their puppies.”

“At times people hide stray dogs in their respective homes to avoid their sterilisation out of fear that we might dislocate them, which hampers our drive,” she added further.

Manni Singh, president of Ludhiana-based NGO called Help for Animals said, “Animals do not attack unless they feel threatened. They only bite people who are either suspicious to them or either appear threatening. If anybody is scared of dogs, instead hushing them away, they should start feeding them. Doing so will not only make them animal friendly but will also lower their fear of dogs. Also, schools and families should impart knowledge on how to behave with street animals. If humans will be kind to them, why would they even bite?”

In a recent incident, five locals have been booked for allegedly killing a stray dog on April 12 for defecating in streets by tying him with a rope on a stick and beating him up till it breathed its last in Garden City in Sahnewal. Later, the accused took away the carcass and dumped it at an unknown place. The locals recorded the incident on their phones, which soon went viral.