Nagpur: A four-year-old boy was attacked by a pack of stray dogs in Shankar Nagar, renewing concerns over the growing canine menace in one of the city’s prime residential areas and prompting the child’s father to approach both the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and the court.The child escaped serious injuries after a passerby intervened and drove away the dogs. However, he suffered scratches from the animals’ claws and was subsequently given medication and an anti-rabies vaccination.The boy’s father, Amit Band, told TOI that he plans to submit a written complaint to the NMC and file a writ petition in high court, alleging that stray dogs have become a persistent threat in Shankar Nagar despite directions issued by Supreme Court.Band alleged that residents and animal lovers regularly feed stray dogs on roads in the locality, resulting in large groups of canines congregating in public spaces. He said the situation is particularly worrying because several major schools are located in and around Shankar Nagar, with children frequently walking through the area.The latest incident has also brought into focus the city’s limited infrastructure for dealing with its stray dog population. According to a recent NMC report, 1,882 stray dogs were found inside 228 institutional premises across the city. The figures have raised concerns about the effectiveness of existing measures and the exposure of children, patients, commuters and senior citizens to stray animals in public and institutional spaces.The NMC report, however, acknowledged that none of the dogs found inside these premises could be permanently relocated because of inadequate shelter capacity.Nagpur currently has three Animal Birth Control (ABC) shelters with a combined capacity of around 300 dogs and one permanent shelter that can accommodate only about 80. This is minuscule compared with the city’s estimated stray dog population of nearly one lakh.A senior NMC official told TOI that a team would visit Shankar Nagar on Wednesday morning to assess the situation. The official said that under the existing system, dogs picked up by civic teams are generally sterilised and subsequently released back into the same area. “Currently, even if we pick up the canines, we have to release them after sterilisation. Completely shifting these strays will take time, as several proposals are pending. However, this will be done in the near future,” the official said.
