Nonagenarian dies after stray dog attack in Kerala

In yet another incident of fatal stray dog attack in Kerala, a 90-year-old man who was seriously injured after being mauled by a pack of stray dogs died at the Medical College Hospital here today.
Street dogs pounced on Raghavan when he was lying in the sitout of his house at Varkala near here in the early hours, seriously injuring him.
He was rushed to the Trivandrum Medical College hospital here but died this afternoon without responding to treatment, hospital officials said.
Raghavan, who received deep wounds on his head, face, neck and legs died following cardiac arrest, they said.

The man is the second fatal victim of street dog attacks in the state since August.
Meanwhile, Local Administration Minister K T Jaleel and KPCC President V M Sudheeran criticised reported remarks of Union Minister Menaka Gandhi that case should be registered under Kerala Anti-Social (prevention) Act against persons who kill street dogs.

She did not know the problems faced by persons attacked by street dogs. "No one in Kerala is killing dogs on a largescale as stated by Gandhi. The aim of the government is to make Kerala street-dog free state," the Minister said.
Sterilising the dogs and keeping them in shelter camps were some of the measures initiated, he added.

Sudheeran said "a situation should not be there wherein life of a dog is given more importance than that of a human."
Menaka Gandhi was making such statements without studying the situation in Kerala, he said urging the state government to take stern steps to end the menace by filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court.
Stray dog menace in the state came to lime light in August last following the killing of a 65-year-old woman who was attacked by pack of stray dogs on a suburban beach at Kanjiramkulam here.
Following outcry state government had come out with a detail programme including sterilisation of dogs and killing of violent canines.

However, there were also protest from animal lovers against government move to kill street dogs.
A total of 31,114 persons were bitten by stray dogs in Kerala in the past three months, Health Minister K K Shailaja had told the state assembly recently.
As per the statistics, highest number of dogs bites during June, July and August was reported from Thiruvananthapuram district with 6,042, followed by Palakkad 4,305 and Kollam 4,123.
According to a report submitted in the Supreme Court recently in a connected case, more than one lakh people in Kerala have been bitten by dogs in 2015-16. Activists of the youth wing of a political party had taken out a procession recently carrying carcasses of stray dogs tied to poles, following which the state government was asked by the Supreme Court to file a response within three weeks on the action taken against offenders.

The apex court had on September 14 said compassion should be shown to stray dogs but these animals should not be allowed to become a menace to society and a balance needs to be struck.