Times News Network
Bangalore, Jan 6: A nine-year-old girl was attacked, mauled and bitten to death by a pack of ferocious dogs at the BCC Layout,Vijaynagar, here on Friday morning.
It was at 7.30 am that the victim, Sridevi, stood at the edge of some vacant land, BCC Layout, Vijaynagar, watching a pack of dogs feast on leftover meat. At 7.35 am, the dogs, having cleaned up the meat, looked around for another prey.
Sridevi was the nearest.Without a moment's hesitation, eight dogs pounced on her, dragged her across the length and breadth of the road. At 7.45 am, her parents, neighbours and children of the locality gathered around her mangled body.
The girl had succumbed to dog bites. The incident occurred at 1st cross, 11th main, Vijaynagar, in the vicinity of Chandra Layout. Sridevi is the daughter of day wage labourers her father paints buildings, while her mother works at the construction site where the horrific incident occurred.
Neighbours said they had to hurl stones before they could recover the body. Explains A Nagesh, in front of whose house the incident occurred, "My wife and others who saw it are horrified.We could'nt even take the girl to the hospital, seemed like she died almost immediately.
I was so angry I called the BMP officials and screamed at them. Stray dog menace has been rampant here for months now and we have complained a number of times." Recently, dogs bit seven persons on a single day here.
Residents say the layouts in the area have a large number of illegal mutton shops, which dump waste onto open gutters or vacant land. Garbage clearance is also lax, and huge mounds are seen in Vijaynagar, Peenya, Rajajinagar and Manjunathnagar.
These attract stray dogs, which apparently have become accustomed to flesh and are attacking people regularly. Sridevi's body was brought for post-mortem to the Victoria Hospital. Though the report is expected on Friday, officials know that it was clearly due to dog bites.
BMP commissioner K Jairaj announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the family. A sense of paranoia has descended on the neighbourhood: Parents haven't sent their children to play on the roads and people are moving around only in their vehicles.
Can anybody booked here? "We caught 16 dogs from this place on Friday," says animal Husbandry deputy director Prakash Reddy. When will the real culprit stand up?