This story is from May 1, 2018

UP: Violent stray dogs target children in Sitapur; 3 found killed

A reign of terror continued to loom over Khairabad, a town located 80km away from Lucknow in the neighbouring Sitapur district. On Tuesday morning, three children who had stepped out of their houses were found killed. The three aged below 12 stayed in a cluster of villages that are struggling to deal with violent stray dogs who have turned into man-eaters.
UP: Violent stray dogs target children in Sitapur; 3 found killed
While local administration said that a total of nine deaths of children in Khairabad have been reported this year, the villagers said that at least 14 have been killed.
Key Highlights
  • On Tuesday morning, three children who had stepped out of their houses were found killed.
  • While local administration said that a total of nine deaths of children in Khairabad have been reported this year, the villagers said that at least 14 have been killed.
LUCKNOW: Stray dogs have unleashed a reign of terror in Khairabad, a town located 80km away from Lucknow in the neighbouring Sitapur district. On Tuesday morning, three children who had stepped out of their houses were found killed. The three, aged below 12, stayed in a cluster of villages that are struggling to deal with violent stray dogs who have turned into man-eaters.
While local administration said that a total of nine deaths of children in Khairabad have been reported this year, the villagers said that at least 14 have been killed.
Around 6am on Tuesday morning, a native of Tikari village, 11-year-old girl Shyamli Nath had stepped out to relieve herself. She was mauled down by stray dogs in the fields.
The pack of dogs then attacked 12-year-old boy Khalid Ali, a seventh standard student in neighbouring Gurpalia village. Khalid had gone to collect mangoes from his father’s orchard in the morning.
While Khairabad police and local administration were busy attending to the two accident sites, another phone call landed at control room around 9am. At Kolia village, that was situated 1.5-km away from Gurpalia, the pack of dogs charged at eight-year-old Komal. Her corpse was also found in the mango orchard.
A resident of Gurpalia village, Ayub Khan had lost a young one in March. “While earlier we remained worried about wild animals such as tiger or leopard, these days we start calling out for help on spotting pack of dogs. We do not allow children to venture out alone in the night. Elderly members of family take turn to guard villages with lathis. I tried to call up administrative officials on Tuesday, but they did not pick up CUG numbers,” said Khan. In March six-year-old Mobin was killed in Gurpalia by stray dogs. But the local villagers did not inform police and neither postmortem examination was held.

It is after a gap of six-weeks that violent stray dogs have reappeared on the stretch. Station house officer of Khairabad police station Sachin Kumar Singh said, “A joint report was forwarded to forest department on March 20. Requirement of coming team was cited in the report and we had also asked the department to take preventive measures. As the dogs had retreated, combing operation was called off.”
On trying to reach Sheetal Verma, district magistrate of Sitapur multiple times, her PRO kept answering the phone. “Madam has fallen sick after attending tehsil diwas at Mishrikh,” he said.
Sub-divisional magistrate of Sitapur Shashank Tripathi said that forest department officials expressed their helplessness in deputing a team. “The department said it can only deal with wild animals and menace created by dogs does not fall under their purview. Moreover Sitapur nagar palika parishad lacks resources to catch dogs,” said Tripathi.
However, the unrest among people who stay in 12-km-long stretch vulnerable to violent stray dogs forced Sitapur administration to rope in a private dog catcher from Mathura. “Forest department has agreed to station four of its personnel along with private dogcatcher from Mathura in the interest of people,” said Tripathi.
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