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Not man’s best friend? Scared of stray dogs, residents shying away from morning strolls
Amid an increase in stray dog bite incidents in the city, several residents of Srishti Apartments in Jankipuram have even said that they fear for their kids who love playing outdoors.
LUCKNOW Fed up with out-of-control stray canines, residents in several localities of Lucknow are forced to do away with the healthy habit of stepping out for strolls during dusk and dawn. Even those who muster the courage are seen carrying sticks for protection in case of a confrontation.
Amid an increase in stray dog bite incidents in the city, several residents of Srishti Apartments in Jankipuram have even said that they fear for their kids who love playing outdoors. Archana Saraswat, a resident of the apartment complex, said, “I was a regular morning walker but after so many incidents, I’m fearful of stepping out. It’s been a few months since I stopped going out.”
In a similar vein, Vivek Sharma, a member of the welfare society, said, “Apartment residents, who got attacked by dogs in the last few months, have stopped taking a stroll even within the premises of the society.”
Stray dogs have also become a nuisance for the Parijat Welfare Society in Gomti Nagar Extension. Area residents expressed their concern over the rising dog-biting incident. Citing Shristi Apartment cases, they said that they are being barked at and chased by stray canines on morning and evening walks. Some of them have even shared videos showing how strays are entering the corridors and basements parking lots of the flats and destroying vehicle seats, shoes, and curtains among others, on their society’s WhatsApp group.
Samar Vijay Singh, secretary of the welfare society, said that the issues have been reported to the LMC, and a permanent solution has been sought. However, the officials have expressed their inability to relocate the dogs. “As a secretary, I have proposed a solution. Animal lovers in society who promise to adopt them will receive ₹1,500 per month in their accounts. The bill for vaccinating them can be paid separately,” he added.
The situation is no different in Alambagh where a group of morning walkers have started carrying sticks to deal with the stray menace. VS Yadav, 65, a resident of Alambagh, who goes out for morning walks daily, said, “We are often chased and barked at by stray dogs. As requests to LMC have not yielded any results, we now carry sticks and baseball bats to counter them. Many of us have been advised by doctors to take morning walks so we can’t avoid this routine. Bats are not to beat them but only for our self-defence,” he added.
‘Awareness programmes & sterilisation underway’
When queried on the issue, Dr Abhinav Verma, animal welfare officer of the LMC, said several such incidents have created a panic among residents and therefore, the civic body is running a program titled ‘Abhay Sankalp’ to create awareness among the public.
“Under the Abhay Sankalp programme, we are visiting several colonies and housing complexes and informing people how to react when they come across stray dogs barking or chasing,” said Divyanshi Pandey, assistant manager at Human Society International, which has been working with LMC for the last 3.5 years. “People running at the bark of a dog or carrying a stick with themselves will provoke strays and they might end up attacking humans. Their feeding points by residents also need to be checked,” she added.
Meanwhile, Verma said, “To address the issue, the programme for animal birth control would be implemented more aggressively now. We will sterilise three times as many street dogs. To control the city’s dog population, we need to implement an area-based dog sterilisation programme.”
