Closure of abattoirs cause of dog attacks: Sitapur admin

LUCKNOW: The Sitapur district administration, which is in a state of panic following the killing of 12 children since last November -one more death was reported on Saturday - by packs of dogs, said on Saturday that closure of illegal slaughter houses in and around Khairabad, where the attacks are taking place, is one of the prime reasons behind the feral assaults.

In just five days since May 1, as many as six children have died after being mauled by dogs. The deaths have also led to a sharp drop in attendance in schools, with authorities saying that parents are scared of sending their wards to schools in the morning.
"Closure of illegal slaughter houses in Khairabad municipal corporation area seems to be the main reason. The dogs were earlier feeding on remains disposed by illegal slaughter houses. Since the slaughterhouses have been closed, the strays are not getting meat and thus may have started attacking children," said Sitapur district magistrate Sheetal Verma. "Disposal of animal carcasses has been prohibited in Khairabad, which was also a source of food for the dogs. We have constituted teams including police, forest officials, and involving villagers to curb the attacks," said Verma.
On Saturday, a nine-year-old boy was killed by strays when he was grazing goats in a field in Talgaon police station. The boy was identified as Hashim, son of Zabbir, said police. Talgaon SHO Yogesh Shah said this is for the first time that the dogs have attacked anyone in the Talgaon area which is at least 20 km from the epicentre of Khairabad. The authorities are, however, not sure whether the attacking canines are strays which have turned ferocious or wild dogs from nearby forest that are venturing into residential areas.
‘Dog attack victims to get compensation’
The district administration estimates that there are still around 100 dogs even while 22 have been captured and sent to Lucknow for study and 15 have been killed by villagers.
City magistrate Harsh Deo Pandey said, “11 villages have been identified where canine attacks have taken place. We are planning to give compensation to the victim families.”
The grisly attacks have caused such a fright among parents and children that schools in the area have witnessed a sharp decline in attendance over the past week.
DIOS Sitapur, Devki Singh, said schools in Khairabad have seen a big dip in attendance since May 1following which directions have been issued that students must be accompanied by their parents to school and must ensure that adults from the village pick and drop children. School have also been asked to ensure that a helper comes till the gate to pick up children.
“Adults accompanying children have been instructed to carry sticks to hit the dogs,” said Singh. Teachers have also been told to counsel children.
IG (Lucknow range) Sujeet Pandey said that Sitapur police has been instructed to increase patrolling during morning hours.