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ATTOCK - The fear and haunting howls gripped the city of Pindigheb on Sunday as rabid dogs on the loose, went on a biting spree, sending at least 12 people, mostly children to hospitals. According to victims of dog bite, the frenzied canine was initially seen wandering about the street adjacent to mohallah Gulzarabad, mohallah Muslim town and rural area Ikhlas and biting people especially children during last two days in the rural as well as urban areas of Pindigheab.

It would go berserk and ferociously attack anyone going towards Mohallah Muslim Town and Gulzarabad area and later went on loose in streets of village Ikhlas. Recounting the terrifying instance when he was attacked, one of the dog’s victims, Mohammad Saif, narrated that the mad female dog had first slashed its paws at his leg, leaving deep scratches, and then bitten him when he was returning home.

Corroborating Saift’s account, another victim Hassan said, “It [the black dog] mainly targets the leg of the people going on foot and continued to terrorize the entire locality for several hours. The dog-victims were rushed to Tehsil Headquarters Hospital Pindigheb for vaccination. Victims and witnesses said it was perhaps different rabid dog that had bitten the pedestrians in different localities of the tehsil.

When contacted Dr Shagufta Jabeen superintendent Tehsil Headquarters Hospital confirmed that six dog bite cases were brought to THQ on Sunday while six were brought to other hospitals on Saturday.

When contacted Deputy District Officer Health Dr Manzoor has confirmed that at least six dog bite cases were brought to public health centre on Sunday including Mohammad Hassan, Samidat Naveed, Mujtaba Niaz, Abdul Wahab, Mohammad Said and Ramzan Masood.

To a question, he said that local tehsil municipal administration has been informed about the incident to trace and kill the mad dogs in the area. He rejected the impression that anti rabies vaccination is not available in tehsil headquarters Hospital. He said that the vaccine has already been administered to the victims and there is no paucity of vaccine in hospital. He said that data is being collected from other rural health centers as well as public and private hospitals of the area to check the number of victims. He said that health department with the support of municipal committee has devised an aggressive plan to launch anti rabies drive in the area.

Assistant Commissioner Pindigheab Haider Abbas when contacted said all out arrangements have been made to launch anti stray dog drive in the city from Monday. He said that “as stray dogs are not vaccinated they are more likely to cause rabies. So keeping in view frequent complaints, we have planned to carry out this campaign on a war footing in public interest from Monday”. He added that municipal committee would continue its campaign till elimination of last stray dog in the area.