Stray dogs maul 11-yr-old boy with autism to death in Kannur

An 11-year-old autistic boy was allegedly mauled to death by stray dogs in the Kannur district of Kerala on Sunday evening.

Nihal, the son of Noushad of Muzhappilangad, had gone out to play at 5 pm on Sunday and soon he went missing. His family members and relatives started a desperate search to trace him but they didn’t get any information about the boy, who was also speech-impaired. A social media campaign about the missing child was also started then.

Later someone told his family members that the barking of stray dogs was heard from the premises of a nearby vacant house. And finally, Nihal's body with severe bite marks and bloodstains all over was spotted about 500 metres away from his house by around 8.30 pm.

The incident led to immediate protests by the local people and some opposition political parties.

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Local people alleged that though the stray dog menace in the area was brought to the notice of the panchayat authorities several times, there had been no action. Some said when they moved around, they had to carry sticks to chase away stray dogs.

Soon after the fresh incident, the local body authorities engaged teams to round up and catch the stray dogs in that area.

The incident has triggered strong protests as major programmes announced by the Kerala government to address the stray dog issue last year after back-to-back instances of rabid deaths and stray dog attacks were not properly implemented.

Local administration minister M B Rajesh said that local protests against setting up Animal Birth Control (ABC) centres was the major hurdle in tackling the stray dog issue.

According to a report by the animal husbandry department in 2019, there are close to 2.8 lakh stray dogs in Kerala, whereas Justice S Siri Jagan Committee reported that there were as many as 21 rabies deaths and 1.96 lakh dog bite cases in Kerala in 2022.

Though the state government had moved the Supreme Court, seeking permission to kill rabid and ferocious stray dogs, the court's nod is awaited.