Pet dog bites 9 people, a cow; residents protest

KOCHI: A pet dog bit nine persons, another dog, and a cow in Muvattupuzha on Thursday morning before a team of dog catchers from Kottayam toiled for hours to catch it around 2.30pm.
According to municipality authorities, the dog belonging to Thrikka native Janardhanan ran out of the compound when it was unfastened.
“It bit a dog first in the neighbourhood and several people later randomly.At first, we thought it was a stray dog,” said Muvattupuzha municipality chairman P P Eldhose.
“The dog moved around in many places. As we tried to catch it, our veterinary surgeon attested that it was a pet dog. We have been running a drive to vaccinate dogs, both strays and pets, in our limits. We have been able to vaccinate around 85 dogs so far. A few days ago, our veterinary surgeon went to the house of Janardhanan. There were around five dogs. He said all dogs except the one which bit people were vaccinated. Janardhanan asked the vet not to vaccinate that particular dog,” Eldhose said. There were complaints that the houseowner used to unfasten all his dogs and keep the gates of the premises locked.
“As per the complaints, he had been doing some business with black oil. It is to prevent people from entering the house that he let loose the dogs. We were looking into the complaint when the dog-bite incident happened. We would be registering a case against the houseowner. We will also send a request to the police to carry out a probe into all the issues,” Eldhose said.