A stray dog tested positive for rabies after it was beaten to death for biting 29 people in Chennai’s GA Road within a span of two hours.
Among the 29 people who were bitten by the dog on Tuesday, five were children. Some of them got injured after falling on the road while trying to escape the dog and as a result were admitted to Government Stanley Medical College and Hospital.
The ones who were attacked by the dog were administered with initial doses of the anti-rabies vaccine and will receive their second dose on Friday. According to the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) these individuals are being closely monitored.
An Indian Express report, quoted GCC veterinary officer, Dr J Kamal Hussain as saying, “We will get the official report soon, but we have already received information that the test result is positive. The dog was infected with rabies.”
Earlier, the dog’s carcass was sent to Madras Veterinary College for post-mortem.
Dr Hussain further said that the corporation has caught around 31 dogs from the Royapuram area in the last two days. They were kept under observation and will be vaccinated.
He added that Chennai has five Animal Birth Control (ABC) centres and around 17,000 dogs were captured only this year for the purpose of sterilisation and vaccination.
Arun Prasanna who runs an NGO by the name of People for Cattle In India (PFCI) alleged that the civic body’s measures were not enough. He said that that incidents like that of the recent one involving 29 people causes only panic among the public.
Talking to Indian Express, Prasanna said, “It is unfortunate that so many people were bitten by the dog. The animal was then beaten to death. If a dog bites more than three people, then it means it is rabid. It is the infection that makes the animal go insane. I do not blame the public (for hitting the dog), but it was the corporation’s responsibility.”
The NGO founder further pointed out the need of the corporation to take strict action in order to address the issue.
While adding that the city has about 3 lakh dogs and that the civic body is sterilizing and vaccinating only about 17,000 per year, he said, “As an NGO, we conducted a drive and vaccinated at least 1,100 dogs. If we can do it in just four days, why can’t the corporation do this on a large scale with the budget they have?”
Prasanna also said that if this incident had happened near or inside a school then it would have been far more dangerous.
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