MCD picks up stray dogs linked to deadly Dwarka attack, finds them ‘normal, non-aggressive’

Four stray dogs, suspected of mauling to death an elderly person in Dwarka, were picked up and sent to an Animal Birth Control (ABC) centre in Najafgarh, a senior Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) official said on Saturday.

The official said a complaint about a dog attack was received on January 8. “We sent a dog-catching team later that afternoon and picked up two dogs near the park. On January 9, two more dogs were caught,” the official said. All four dogs were found to be “vaccinated” and in “normal condition”.

The official said the dogs were also sterilised and showed “no signs of aggression”. “We don’t plan to release the dogs immediately. They will be kept under observation for at least 10 days. For now, they are not displaying aggressive behaviour and are, in fact, reported to be very friendly,” the official said.

Raju, a 60-year-old man, was attacked by a pack of dogs in Dwarka Sector 19 and died from his injuries. Police said Raju had been living on the streets in Dwarka for over a year. At the time of the incident, he was intoxicated and lying on a footpath. He is survived by his wife and three children.

ABC guidelines

According to the ABC rules, sterilised and vaccinated stray dogs are to be returned to the same area. However, a recent Supreme Court order has directed local bodies to permanently shelter dogs that are rabies-infected or ferocious. It has directed the authorities to remove stray dogs from educational institutions, hospitals, sports complexes, bus stands and depots, and railway stations, and relocate them “to a designated shelter”.

The four dogs are being kept at an ABC centre run by Sonadi Charitable Trust.

“The trust has enough infrastructure to keep the dogs on a temporary or permanent basis. MCD will not bear the cost of their upkeep,” the official said. This is the same centre where a pet pitbull was permanently shifted after it attacked a six-year-old child in north-west Delhi in November.

The MCD currently does not have its own dog shelter, though it maintains that a shelter has been in the works in Dwarka Sector 29 since November. At present, the civic body oversees 20 ABC centres run by NGOs.