Kozhikode: Alarming rise in cases of stray dog attacks has compelled the office-bearers of Koothali panchayat in Kerala's Kozhikode district to announce a day's holiday to schoolchildren.
The children studying in schools and Anganwadi Kendras were granted a day's holiday on Monday. The president of the panchayat said that after holding talks with the Assistant Education Officer (AEO) and other officials of the education department, a day's holiday was declared in schools. The workers employed under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme were also asked to take a day's break.
On Sunday evening, five people were bitten by stray dogs in the Koothali panchayat area. As such, it decided to grant a day's holiday in schools and Anganwadi Kendras. The stray dog menace has intensified in Koothali panchayat. Besides, animal birth control measures have also failed to achieve the desired results.
In such a situation, it became risky for children to venture out of their homes. "It was aimed at making everyone, including students, parents and teachers, aware of the stray dog menace in the area," the panchayat president said. In the past two months, several children were seriously injured in stray dog attacks in Kannur, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram districts.
The attacks took place when the children were heading home after attending school or playing in front of their houses. Last month, an 11-year-old child suffering from autism was mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs in Kannur. In a similar incident in Kottayam district, a 12-year-old minor was killed in a stray dog attack last year.
The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) had sought direction from the Supreme Court which was made a party in a pending 2019 case filed by the state government on the stray dog menace. The child rights body, which also provided data on dog attack cases in the state, said that stray dogs can pose a risk to public safety by attacking people or other animals. "A confined facility or culling of stray dogs can reduce the risk of such incidents to some extent. Nearly 5,794 stray dog attack cases were reported in Kerala in 2019 and the number went down to 3,951 in 2020," the data said.
In 2021, 7,927 dog attack cases were reported in the state, while 11,776 cases were recorded in 2022 and 6,276 up to June 19, 2023, it said. Seeking a judicial intervention to put a check on the stray dog menace, it said, street dogs carry diseases that can be transmitted to humans, such as rabies. Confined facilities for stray dogs can help in controlling the spread of such diseases.
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