Mohammadpur curbed canine menace by parting with pets

LUCKNOW :Like Khairabad area of Sitapur, the Mohammadpur locality of Bahedi block in Bareilly also saw a spate of dog attacks till early 2017. But a year on, with no attacks in eight months, the situation in Mohammadpur has changed completely.

The way people in this area have tackled the problem may help Khairabad combat the menace.

According to local residents, over a dozen kids were killed in Mohammadpur area between 2015 and 2017. Though the district administration took measures to tackle the situation, the first initiative was taken by the residents – they started with ousting the dogs. None of the households in Mohammadpur locality have a dog as pet. “Pet dogs attract other dogs who used to attack our children,” said Mohd Zubair Khan, a resident who parted with his pet dog after his 10-year-old nephew was killed by a feral dog in February last year. Zubair’s neighbours did the same and the trend was soon followed by others.

The residents were supported by the local administration, which issued guidelines on waste disposal for meat shops. “We have made it mandatory for all meat shops to deposit their waste to dedicated municipal waste collection vehicles. The waste is then disposed of properly,” said MP Singh, SDM of Bahedi. The SDM also roped in the forest department in the exercise which deployed it’s members to assist teams which captured and spayed dogs living in residential areas.

The efforts proved effective in reducing the number of dogs, which led to a steep decline in dog attack incidents.

“We have had no dog-bite incidents from the region since January and there has been no case of death in such attacks since April 2017,” said Dr Pramod Sharma, in-charge of community health centre of Bahedi.