In a series of shocking incidents, stray dogs killed three children in Khairabad area of Sitapur district in separate attacks on Tuesday morning. The victims were aged between 11 and 12 years.
Khairabad police station Station Officer Sachin Singh confirmed the incidents and revealed the names of the victims as Shyamali (11) and Komal (12), both girls, while Khalid, a 12-year-old boy, too, was killed by the feral dogs.
In the first incident, which occurred around 6.30am on Tuesday, Shyamali had gone to a nearby mango orchard along with her friends, where a hoard of 10-12 dogs chased the girls. While two girls managed to run away, the dogs attacked and started biting Shyamali; by the time, villagers could reach there, the dogs had badly mauled the girl and a profusely bleeding Shyamali died on the spot.
In the second incident that took place 2km away from the place where Shyamali died in Gurpulia village, Khalid was killed by feral dogs when he was passing through a mango orchard. In this incident too, about a dozen dogs attacked the boy and mauled him.
In the third incident, which occurred around 11am, the dogs roaming near a mango orchard initially attacked a 50-year-old villager, who climbed over a nearby tree and somehow saved himself. However, the animals set up on three girls who entered the orchard; while two of them managed to escape, Komal, the third victim, was attacked and died on the spot.
The menace of feral dogs has created panic in the area. This is not the first incident; according to local residents of Khairabad, since November 2017, stray dogs have killed nearly 15 children. Khairabad is around 70km from Lucknow and situated at the outskirts of Sitapur city.
In most of these cases, the dogs attacked children who were not accompanied by any grown-up.
The station officer of Khairabad police station said since November last year, nine such incidents were reported to the police, but there are more cases of dogs attacking and injuring people in the area.
Meanwhile, District Magistrate Sheetal Verma said the administration has been seeking the help of the municipal corporation to deal with this menace.