Increased stray pig, dog menace on Tumakuru streets

Corporation has turned a blind eye, accuse residents

The streets of the city that is dreaming of obtaining the ‘Smart City’ tag are now terrorised by the dog menace. Go to any area of the city and you will find packs of dogs roaming around. The public are frightened to even step out of their houses for the fear of being bitten.

The dogs cannot be killed after being caught, but only neutered before being let back onto the streets. The Mahanagara Palike is not giving any priority to solving this issue. They say that a big obstacle to ending dog menace on the streets is the opposition they face from animal rights groups.

“Earlier, a tender worth Rs five crore was called for catching stray dogs. Then, a complaint was lodged against the Palike commissioner that dogs were being caught and killed. After this incident, we stopped catching dogs,” said a Palike official.

Palike member T R Nagaraj said,”The dog menace is seen in all 30 wards of the city. In many places, children have been bitten by dogs. Only rabid dogs and ones which are very problematic can be killed with permission from the veterinary doctor. This procedure cannot be followed in every case. Measures have been taken to catch dogs.”

“The dog menace has worsened with the increase in the number of butcher shops in the city. Animal waste is indiscriminately being discarded and dogs arrive to feed on that refuse,” said Shivu, a resident of Sadashivanagar.

Rani Chandrashekhar, another resident, said “If no steps are taken to control the dogs, people will be forced to live in an atmosphere of fear.”

Two-wheeler riders are in constant fear of being bitten by dogs when they ride their vehicles. Many of them have also skidded off their bikes and been injured when they had to swerve quickly to avoid hitting the stray dogs. It is scary how common it has become to see packs of dogs hunt down and eat piglets on the streets, say residents.