KASUR: The residents of Bulandi Ottar village have been under the attack of mad dogs for the last three months.

The hamlet of 200 houses, located 20 kilometres from Kasur, has seen nine attacks on more than a dozen people and as many cattle heads and in retaliation has culled more than two dozen dogs and over a dozen infected cattle.

The villagers rush the dog-bite victims to the Kotli Rai Abu Bakr Basic Health Unit, three kilometres from the village, and in several cases, people have been treated at the Kasur District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital and a health facility on Jail Road, Lahore.

Some three months back, a dog bit Muhammad Ashraf, his sons Amir, 10, Muzaffar, 8, and Abu Bakar, 5, and a calf. Ashraf and his sons were given anti-rabies shots while the calf was put down when it started biting the people. Soon, the dog was found and culled too.

In the next two weeks, villagers put down the buffalo of Malik Muhammad and the donkey of Muhammad Sarwar after dogs bit them.

The next victim was Asar Pee Bibi, wife of Fiaz, who was given an anti-rabbies shot.

The tragedy struck the family of Abdul Majeed on Jan 14 when their pet dog mauled his son, Abdullah, 10, wife Shabana Bibi and nephew Abu Bakar, 12. Abdullah got over two dozen stitches on his face and neck.

The victims were rushed to the DHQ Hospital only to be referred to the Institute of Public Health on Jail Road for rabies shots.

The villagers hurried to put down the dog of Majeed but by that time, it had bitten several stray dogs.

Two weeks ago, Danish, 10, was bitten by a mad dog. He was taken to the Khudian Rural Health Centre in vain as the health facility lacked anti-rabbies shots. His father, Hasan, said he got his son vaccinated from a private clinic for a Rs800 shot. After two shots, he was short of money, so the treatment was stopped.

Last week, dogs struck elderly woman Kaneez Bibi. She said she was lucky enough to get treatment free of cost at DHQ Hospital.

A couple of days back, a mad dog attacked and injured several sheep of Abdullah warranting death sentence for the injured cattle.

According to a villager, who sought anonymity, about half a dozen cattle of a farmer in the village, infected by a dog-bite, were sold to butchers.

Attacks after attacks have put the people in a situation of fear. They say they do not go outside at night while in day time, they move in groups. On Wednesday, they killed two mad dogs.

They said dogs were attracted to the waste and leftovers of a poultry farm, situated in the village.

Village Lumberdar Bilal Ahmed said their repeated complaints with the executive district officer (EDO) failed to resolve the issue.

Health EDO Dr Abdul Shakoor said he was never informed about the matter and the whereabouts of the village. He said he would send a team to the village to asses the situation.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2015

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