DHARWAD: A 58-year-old woman died after she was allegedly attacked by a pack of stray dogs in Uppin Betageri village of Dharwad district on Tuesday night. The deceased, Mabubi Nadaf, was mentally-ill and used to beg for a living in the village.
She was sleeping on the village outskirts when the dogs allegedly attacked her. Moula Saab, brother of the deceased, said his sister was mentally-ill and usually stayed away from the house. “We used to bring her home, but she would go back to begging.
She was under treatment for her illness, but she became a victim of stray dogs,” he said. Health Department officials, however, said they will not confirm the cause of death until the postmortem report is out. “The woman might have died and the dogs would have tried to eat her flesh or anything else could have happened.
We are waiting for the autopsy report to confirm the allegation made by her family and the villagers,” said an official. The villagers alleged that the number of stray dogs has increased, but authorities are not worried about it. “A majority of district officials use fourwheelers and they do not face the problem of being chased by stray dogs.
They listen to our issues, but forget them soon after leaving the village,” they alleged. “We have seen the victim sleeping on the outskirts of the village at night and she generally used to sleep in temples and other places but unfortunately dogs have bitten her. We called the police and covered the body after chasing away the dogs,” they added.
“Stray dog attacks have become quite common here and the authorities are not doing enough on the ground but for giving false assurances. The population of dogs is increasing every year instead of coming down despite several drives taken up by the authorities within the city limits and panchayat levels.
Dog bites and untoward incidents are a testimony to the namesake drives,” they said. A Health Department official said action will be taken and a meeting will be held with panchayat members and villagers at Uppina Betageri soon. A case has been registered.
Eight injured in stray dog attack in Gokak
Gokak:As many as eight persons were injured in a stray dog attackat Sangam Nagar and Satish nagar Bojgar plot in Gokak town on Tuesday morning. They were standing outside their houses when the stray dog all of a sudden attacked them, at about 6 am. It bit them on their legs. All the injured were immediately admitted to the Government Hospital at Gokak.
A team of Gokak municipal employees are searching for the dog. Shivannand Hiremath, Gokak CMC Commissioner said, “We have formed 4 expert teams to catch the dog. We will catch it as soon as possible.” Chidannand Gidnvar, resident, said that this was not the first time such an incident was reported in Gokak. “Earlier too many such incidents had taken place. I had urged the CMC to take serious action for tackling the menace of stray dogs. But CMC only takes temporary measures,” he said.
