After stray dog attacks stir fear, NGO holds awareness campaign at Vasant Kunj

A week after two children were killed allegedly after being attacked by canines, a campaign was carried out on Sunday by an animal activist at Vasant Kunj’s Sindhi Basti to spread awareness about stray dogs and their behaviour.

Around 100 people participated in the two-hour programme and spoke about their fears surrounding stray animals, said founder of Noida-based NGO House of Stray Animals (HSA) Sanjay Mohapatra who organised the campaign.

He claimed that parents in the area were “scared” after the death of two children and had “stopped allowing” their children to step out of their home alone.

“Children in the area are scared after the death of two siblings here. Parents have been accompanying their children everywhere and not letting them step out alone.

“We conducted a two-hour sensitisation class teaching them about safety rules as well as dog behaviour,” Mohapatra said.

Pointing that the children in Vasant Kunj were killed after they went to defecate in the open, Mohapatra further added that the government “should build more toilets” in the area.

Earlier, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi had raised doubts over the death of two siblings in Vasant Kunj allegedly in the stray dog attacks, saying only post mortem will clarify “whether they were murdered or attacked by dogs.”

Two minor brothers were found dead in a span of two days in southwest Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area. Seven-year-old Anand and five-year-old Aditya, his brother, lived with their parents in a slum cluster in Sindhi Basti. Anand had reportedly gone missing on March 10.

On March 12, Aditya too went to the same jungle area, along with his cousin Chandan, 24, to defecate. Chandan left Aditya for some time and returned to find him injured and surrounded by stray dogs, police had said. Aditya then, succumbed to injuries.

(With PTI inputs)