VIJAYAWADA: In a shocking incident, a six-year-old boy was attacked by a stray dog in Moguluru village of Kanchikacherla mandal in Krishna district on Tuesday afternoon.
Around 12:30 p.m., M Bhanu Prasad went to purchase beedis for a neighbour and was attacked by the stray dog while returning home. Hearing his cries for help, some passersby chased away the dog.
“When we heard about the incident and rushed there, our neighbor, who had sent him to fetch beedis, was with my injured grandson. He was profusely bleeding from his ear and some wound on the head. I was worried on seeing him in such a condition,’ B Lakshmi, boy’s grandmother, told Express. They then took him to the PHC at Kanchikacherla where the doctors cleaned the wounds and administered Anti-Rabies Vaccine to Prasad. Later, they referred him to the government general hospital in Vijayawada for further treatment.
The doctors there said that Prasad’s ear was bitten and there were lacerations at the base of his skull and some injuries on the back and added that his condition was stable.
Lakshmi, who is in her late forties, is taking care of Prasad and his sister since the death of their mother. She is a daily wage earner and lives in a makeshift house near a neem tree in the village. While she was preparing food, the boy was playing near the tree with other children, when her neighbour sent him to fetch ‘beedis’. “If only he had listened to me and not ventured out, he would not have got hurt. I hope he will be all right. We are poor and can only pray to God to help us”, she said with folded hands.
This is not the first dog attack in Krishna district in the recent past. Two children were attacked and injured by a pack of street dogs in Chatrayi mandal of Krishna district and they were treated at the government general hospital in Vijayawada. Last week, a six-year-old girl Sk Kausar was mauled to death in Kakumanu village in neighbouring Guntur district. Another girl in the same village was badly hurt in a dog attack a few weeks earlier.
When contacted, officials of the Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) said that barring a few stray incidents of dog attacks, there were not many cases in the last three months. “In summer, dogs which are bereft of food and water, get irritated and tend to attack people on the slightest provocation”, in-charge joint director of AHD, said.
He said they were now coordinating with the panchayat and municipal authorities in the district to assess the number of stray dogs. The AHD was ready to undertake a special drive to vaccinate and control the population of the dogs, he said.