SWABI: Residents have complained about increasing number of stray dogs, and demanded of the civic authorities to launch a canine culling campaign.

They told Dawn that in search of food, stray dogs usually visited nearby houses and were targeting small animals to get food.

They said that due to continued failure of the tehsil municipal administrations to eradicate the stray dog menace from the district, dog-bite cases had become common.

“There has been a lack of mechanism to control stray dogs for the last several years,” said Mohammad Ali of Swabi city.

“I was bitten by a mad dog five years back,” Rohal Amin of Topi city said.

Resident Abbas Yousafzai recalled: “I was recently bitten by a stray dog.

My parents forced me to get anti-rabies injections,

but believe me, I have developed stiffness after the treatment.”

With the passage of time, the population of stray dogs has increased manifold because they breed freely.

“If you go to the district headquarters, and Topi, Chota Lahor, Razaar teshils and other business centres you can notice a large number of dogs in front of the butchers’ shops,” resident Rashid Khan said.

“The TMA officials only know how to collect taxes from the people and how to pocket money in different projects. They don’t know how the stray dogs could be eliminated,” he said.

The residents said the TMAs failed to launch an anti-stray dog campaign.

When contacted, TMA officials told Dawn that they could not launch a stray dog culling campaign like in the past as the Supreme Court had banned their culling.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2025