10-year-old boy succumbs to injuries after chased by stray dog in Srinagar

Srinagar, June 9: After a 13-day battle in Srinagar in a fatal dog chase, a 10-year-old boy today succumbed to his injuries at Baran Pathar, Batmaloo.
According to locals, the boy was injured while playing with other children in the area when a stray dog, which was loitering in the locality, suddenly turned towards him. Even as the panicked boy tried to escape from the dog, it got ferocious and chased him and the boy fell down in an open drain.
The incident occurred on May 28, when Ahmad son of Javid Ahmad of Baran Pathar Batmaloo was injured after a dog chased him. He was rushed to the hospital, but he succumbed to injuries after fighting for his life for nearly two weeks.
The Medical Superintendent of Children’s Hospital in Srinagar confirmed Ahmad’s death, stating that it was a case of fatal drowning with respiratory failure and shock. The boy had been admitted to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and had been on ventilator support with continuous monitoring until his passing.
Earlier, Dr. Muhammad Salim Khan, Professor and HOD Community Medicine at GMC Srinagar, had tweeted that “the 7-year-old child had been chased by a pack of dogs in Batmaloo, leading to a fall into a drain and resulting in brain death with no chances of survival.”
The family and relatives of the deceased expressed strong resentment towards the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), holding them responsible for failing to control the increasing stray dog menace in the city. They claimed that such unfortunate incidents have been reported in the past, but the authorities have not taken any action to address the problem.
The stray dog issue has posed a significant challenge for the authorities in Srinagar, as thousands of dog bite cases are reported in the city. Official data reveals that during a specific period, the Anti-Rabies clinic at Government Medical College (GMC) and Srinagar’s Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital treated a total of 6,855 animal bite cases from across the valley, with 4,912 cases from the city alone. In the previous years, the numbers were 5,629 in 2021–22 and 4,798 in 2020–21.
Over the past six years, Srinagar alone has accounted for 72% of the 37,467 animal bite cases reported in the Kashmir valley. Dr. Mohammad Salim Khan, head of community medicine at GMC Srinagar, revealed that out of the 6,855 animal bite cases treated at SMHS, approximately 5,700 were caused by dog bites. He further highlighted regular complaints of dog bites targeting young children and the elderly during early morning or late evening hours when children go to school and the elderly attend prayers.
In an effort to effectively address the issue of stray dog overpopulation and ensure the safety of its residents, the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) has recently formed an Animal Birth Control (ABC) Monitoring Committee. This committee, mandated under the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules 2001, will oversee the implementation of various activities related to the sterilization of stray animals within the jurisdiction of the SMC.