Stray dogs maul a nine-year-old girl in Bangalore

In a horrendous incident, a pack of stray dogs mauled a nine-year-old girl in Bangalore to death in Chandra Layout in Bangalore on Friday.

The victim Sreedevi was on her way to fetch her father Shivalingaiah from a nearby construction site when nearly fifteen stray dogs pounced on her, bit her and dragged her along the road.

By the time neighbours and passersby could respond to her screams and reach the spot to shoo the dogs, Sreedevi’s mangled body was lying motionless. According to doctors at Victoria Hospital, where her body was taken to, the girl had sufferred multiple dog bites including a fatal one near the neck. “The scalp had been peeled off, leading to excessive bleeding”, a doctor said.

Eye-witnesses said the ferocious dogs just would not let go the girl even after stones were hurled at them. “The dogs attacked her so badly that she had been bitten from head to toe. She died on the spot within ten minutes. It was like a tug of war between the dogs to have the young girl’s body. Our efforts to shoo away the dogs went in vain and it was too late by then”, a resident of the area said.

A number of residents of the locality have complained to the civic authorities against the rampant stray dog menace. “This is not the first time. Dogs have been regularly biting people in the area for the last several months and the authorities have turned a blind eye”, said Nagash in front of whose house the incident occurred.

The dumping of waste from the large number of mutton stalls in the area has been attributed to the stray dog menace in Chandra Layout.

Sreedevi’s father Shivalinga and mother Shivanagamma were shell-shocked to see their daughter mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs. The Bangalore City Corporation has announced a compensation of Rs 100,000 to the family of Sreedevi.

Sreedevi’s death under such gruesome circumstances has spread a wave of shock among the residents of Bangalore, who have begun bringing pressure on the civic authorities to wake up to the stray dog menace.

MLA Vatal Nagaraj staged a demonstration in front of the Bangalore City Corporation offices yesterday demanding the resignation of the State Government for the horrific incident. “Had such an incident happened in the civilized world, the Government would have resigned”, he said and urged the authorities to immediately take action against the stray dog menace.