HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Thursday expressed concern over the rising incidents of stray dog attacks on children, some of which turned fatal.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Jukanti Anil Kumar, expressed anxiety over the incident of an 18-month-old boy who was attacked and killed by a pack of stray dogs in Adarshnagar of Jawaharnagar Municipal Corporation. The bench showed paper clippings of the incident and observed that there was an urgent need to find a more robust and effective approach to tackle the issue.
The bench was dealing with a suo motu PIL over deaths in GHMC limits following attacks by stray dog and other petitions related to maintenance of stray dogs.
Chief Justice Aradhe directed the state-constituted panel to come up with an action plan and solutions to redress the issue. The High Court also criticised GHMC and the authorities and asked how they could get away from the situation on the pretext that they sterilised dogs.
Earlier, the Advocate General submitted to the court that there are 3,79,156 stray dogs in GHMC limits and all of them had been sterilised. “The animal birth control rules, 2023, provide for sterilisation of the dogs, but this does not stop them from attacking infants and elders. We have to find a solution to this issue,” observed the Chief Justice.
The court directed the committee to consult animal welfare organisations in the state and put forth measures that can thwart stray dogs from attacking and killing infants and elders.
Implead petitioner Mamidi Venu Madhav argued that except for shifting the stray dogs into the shelter homes, there was no alternative to prevent the menace. He pointed out that there were only six sterilisation centres in GHMC limits and they could only sterilise around 180 dogs per day. Further, he submitted that the Animal Welfare Board had in 2019 issued a circular to shift all stray animals to shelter homes because they cause nuisance in the public places. He said that the Nagpur municipal corporation has taken a decision to shift 90,000 stray dogs to shelter homes.
Directing the government to come up with solutions by the next hearing, the court adjourned the matters to July 31.
