Stray dogs trouble Gulberg residents

[LahoreEstate]

LAHORE: An increasing number of stray dogs in Gulberg II have been troubling the residents and keeping them from walking or letting their children play outside, Daily Times learnt on Wednesday.

Most stray dogs survive on food dumped in garbage containers, installed by the district government. Heavy population: Gulberg II, blocks A, B, C/1, C/2, D/1, D/2, S, T, L, M, and areas near Guru Mangat Road and Ghalib Market are densely populated with stray dogs because of which people are too insecure to take a walk, let alone leave the house. It has come to this because of the unpredictable behaviour of the dogs. Troubled citizens: Many pedestrians in the area have complained of being attacked, especially when they were out later in the night. “I was attacked by at least half a dozen dogs one evening when I was passing through the S block area on my way home near Ghalib Market. It was so dark and deserted that I thought the dogs would literally tear me apart before a guard present at a nearby school intervened and drove them away from me,” stated, Malik Shahzad, a Gulberg resident. Shahzad said he had been bitten by one of those dogs and had to undergo a lengthy medical procedure later.

He said he complained to the local government about the increasing number of stray dogs but they did not do anything about it. Another resident, Afshan Iqbal said, she had begun to fear the dogs ever since she had been attacked one night. She said she kept her doors locked at all times and never allowed her children to go out to play. “We informed the anti-dog cell of the district government about the presence of stray dogs in the areas but I still see a number of dogs wandering around in our locality,” said another resident, adding that it might be a trivial issue for the government officials but it really was a serious problem for the residents.

Umair Chaudhry, a resident of S block, said the stray dogs took refuge in the nearby park and came out on to the streets mostly later in the evening. They attacked almost everyone from cyclists to commuters on motorbikes. Chaudhry said a number of people had been bitten by those dogs in the area and now the residents feared going out. Veterinary Doctors Association President Dr Mohammad Ashraf told DailyTimes that stray dogs posed the greatest risk of transmitting the rabies virus to humans, while the wounds caused by a dog-attack could also be extremely painful. He recommended that a person bitten by a stray dog should consult a doctor immediately. He said children were an easier target for stray dogs as compared to adults, because they were shorter in height.

Solution: However, superintendent of the dog-killing centre of the City District Government of Lahore (CDGL), Mohammad Altaf, said the centre had been sending four teams in different parts of the city every day to get rid of these dogs. He said the centre possesses a 30-member team with five rifles and poison to kill those dogs. Altaf assured that the Gulberg area would be taken care of very soon.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg7_33