It is with great sadness that we learnt of little Manjunath's death from dog attack. I hope that his family have the strength to deal with this irrevocable loss. Can ANYONE imagine themselves in the parents' position?
I find it amazing that we are debating whether we should spare these dogs, when the safety of our children is at stake. After all, how can we utter statements like "our children are our Country's future" if we are bent on jeopardising their very existence? The dogs should be culled, mercilessly. Period.
I also wish to draw your attention to the plight of innumerable people who suffer dog bites on a daily basis. These incidents are largely unreported. Having worked in a Government hospital, I have witnessed the hundreds of people that turn up for an anti-rabies injection first thing in the morning of a surgical OPD.
Another group of people whose condition is ignored is the beggars and construction workers who spend their nights on the streets. They often have little children of their own who sleep on the street side where the stray dogs prowl during the nights. This in itself is a lethal combination and a recipe for disaster. Again, the poor people are left to their own devices. I wonder why the voluntary agencies that are so concerned about the dogs' welfare are ignoring this issue?
In an ideal world, there would be no stray dogs at all. They would all be adopted, vaccinated and cared for by doting owners. However the situation in our City and indeed our Country is so out of hand that we simply cannot cater to all the thousands of strays. Unless the Government comes up with a plan of temporarily housing all the strays and neutering them, I see no other alternative to culling. Besides, imagine the manpower and resources required to contain and sustain all the strays.
I have nothing against dogs. Yes, they are 'man's best friends' and loyal and all the rest of it. However we should never forget that once upon a time they lived in the wild and hunted in the same manner as any other carnivorous animal in the wild would. They were domesticated much later, but the animal instinct and ferociousness is still intact. It is well documented that when looking for a kill, they go for the weakest and the smallest, a prey who is least likely to resist. And this, I need not specify, is usually a child playing on the street. And this argument is not confined to the canine family. Any other animal or bird turning out to be a danger to our children should go in the same manner.
I urge the Government not to concede to the unreasonable demands of the voluntary agencies that are taking a rather myopic view of the whole situation. Would they still say the dogs should not be killed if their own children were subjects of attack by these vicious dogs? And has anybody bothered to ask the victims' parents what the approach should be?
I hope that this issue will not meet the same fate as innumerable others; action when the issue is hot and then forgotten when it is off the front pages. Please choose now. Stray dogs or our children?
