Stray dog menace on the rise in Vizianagaram

Vizianagaram: After the tragedy in Hyderabad where a four-year-old boy was mauled to death a few days ago, stray dog problem in the district has come into focus. Packs of dogs threatening people and motorists on roads in towns and villages in the district has become a common phenomenon. According to estimates, there are around 20,000 stray dogs under Vizianagaram Municipal corporation alone. Civic body carried out sterilisation programme to control the canine population but later abandoned it. The municipal staff caught the dogs and left them in far off places but they started to return, creating panic among people.

The municipal corporation constructed a dog rescue centre here at a cost of Rs 40 lakh but it is not being used. Now the dog rescue center has become a warehouse for storing the equipment and other sanitation tools like brooms, trolleys and others. The increasing number of stray dogs are also causing accidents as they are gathering in the middle of the roads and chasing the two-wheelers.

K Ramesh of Vuda colony, studying Class 9 in a private school, said that he likes to go to school on cycle but was scared of dogs and now he is depending upon the autorickshaw. R Sriramulu Naidu, muncipal commissioner, said that they would undertake a special drive to control the dogs in the city and again they would go for mass sterilization by hiring veterinary doctors. He admitted that the canine population has increased in the past few years and they would look into the issue.