After battling for life for over 24 hours, Sonam, 8, succumbed to her injuries inflicted by a pack of feral dogs in Khairampur village of Sitapur’s Manpur area on Friday morning. With her death, the toll since November has risen to 14. Of these, eight were killed and six severely injured only this month.
“The girl died around 8 am on Friday morning at Sitapur district hospital,” said Om Prakash, station officer (SO), Manpur police station. “She had suffered multiple injuries on throat and hands and according to doctors, throat injuries proved fatal. She remained unconscious throughout,” said the SO.
The girl was attacked when she had gone to attend nature’s call along with some other children near her village at around 6.30 am. “Group of villagers who were irrigating the field nearby rescued the girl after hearing her screams. However, by then the pack of dogs had already badly injured her,” said the SO.
According to villagers, there were at least 7-8 feral dogs, who after attacking the girl fled towards another village.
The SO said attack was on the same pattern as those reported in the past few weeks.
{{/usCountry}}The SO said attack was on the same pattern as those reported in the past few weeks.
{{/usCountry}}While extensive combing operations is on in villages affected by canine scare, the pack of dogs remained untraceable till Friday evening.
As a precautionary measure, drummers and announcers had been deployed by the district administration to alert people about feral dogs in Khairabad area of Sitapur, the SO said.
Apart from 22 villages most affected by dog attacks, district officials have marked 26 other villages for their operation where sightings of feral dogs were reported.