Hyderabad mayor orders inquiry into killing of four-year-old Pradeep by stray dogs

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi on Tuesday directed GHMC officials to conduct an inquiry into the killing of four-year-old Pradeep by stray dogs in Amberpet.

According to her, "when people quit feeding them after routinely feeding them, dogs tend to behave that way." When questioned about the aggressive behaviour of street dogs throughout the summer, she responded that she understood "such behaviour because she's a dog lover herself and has seen dogs at a park she walks, behave that way."

Talasani Srinivas Yadav, minister for animal husbandry, expressed his grief over the incident and said that a special meeting will be called on February 23 to discuss strategies to solve the stray dogs and monkeys menace in the city.

The incident has sparked debate among people on the problem of stray dogs. Jaya Ramanamma, a tailor and a resident of Amberpet, said that this is what happens when wealthy people in the area want to feed dogs because they like them but do not want to raise them in their homes, allowing them to reproduce, grow in number, and be a danger to the people.

The Mayor claimed that four lakh dogs out of a total of 5.7 lakh present in the city were sterilised through birth control procedures.

"With five animal care facilities, GHMC offers emergency rabies vaccination and sterilisation services. GHMC sterilised 50,091 dogs in 2020–21, 73,601 dogs in 2021–22, and 40,155 dogs in 2022–23,” she noted. Around 33 dogs have been caught and sent to the GHMC Animal Care Centre in Mahadevapura for observation and sterilisation.

"GHMC is conducting sterilisation and emergency rabies vaccination through five animal care centres. Veterinary officials informed us that 50,091 dogs were sterilised by GHMC in 2020-21, 73,601 in 2021-22 and 40,155 in 2022-23," she said. The Mayor reported that 30 teams had been working in 30 circles under the GHMC limits to capture the stray dogs.

The Mayor claimed that each GHMC circle has been given anti-rabies shots and animal birth control to make sure that such situations do not recur. "Every time a complaint regarding street dogs is made to us, we respond appropriately. We have also assigned vehicles with two officers to check the same. Necessary steps are being taken to arrest these issues in the summer," she said. She emphasised the importance of adopting street dogs rather than purchasing “nice-looking” dogs.