KOCHI: Residents of Changampuzha Nagar in Kalamassery are on edge. For weeks now, parents have been afraid to send their children out to play and people prefer not to leave their home unless absolutely necessary.
It’s not wild animals that have made their lives difficult. Rather, the residents are grappling with rising stray dog menace.
On December 20, Margaret D’Cruz, an 85-year-old living in Changampuzha Nagar, was out with her pet dog when a stray canine charged at her and attacked her. She ended up at the hospital with deep bite and scratch injuries. The same day, the stray attacked seven other people in the locality.
The residents say the strays move in groups and attack almost anyone who is outside, sometimes without provocation.
“Leading a normal life without fearing the strays has become a challenge. The canines roam the streets in groups of four and five and charge at passers-by,” rues Sudheer Viswanathan, secretary of the Changampuzha Nagar Residents Association.
“Those walking alone or riding bikes are especially vulnerable. The dogs bark loudly and chase vehicles at night. The vacations were on recently, but we were scared to let children play outside,” he says. Groups of dogs lay either at the entrance of the street, in the park or nearby shops. People out for a morning walk are also not safe.
Residents blame dumping of waste and some outsiders’ habit of feeding the canines for the rise in the dogs’ numbers. Repeated complaints to authorities have bore no fruit, and despite being told not to, some outsiders regularly come and feed the strays, they complain.
In fact, the municipality has been getting complaints of stray dog menace from different parts of Kalamassery. However, the officials say they have been unable to act.
“Stray dogs are posing problems across the municipality. Earlier, we vaccinated them and even implemented the ABC (animal birth control) programme. In light of the recent attacks, we have approached Minister P Rajeeve, the Kalamassery MLA, for a proper solution,” says municipality chairperson Seema Kannan.
She says pet dogs that were later abandoned are causing the trouble. “Such dogs have only seen their owners throughout their life and tend to attack strangers. Other stray dogs are used to the streets and do not pose a big problem,” she says.