Two abandoned Rottweilers have mauled a mother of three to death on a village road in Karnataka, a year after the state high court blocked a ban on the “dangerous” breed on a plea from dog lovers.
Anita Halesh, 38, was walking from her home to her parents’ in Honnur Gollarahatti village of Davangere, just off National Highway 48, when she was attacked at 11pm on Thursday, police said.
Local people said she had 50 bite marks all over her body, including her neck and thighs, and that one of her hands was separated from the body.
The tragedy comes at a time the Supreme Court has ordered all stray dogs removed from the country’s streets and highways. Rottweilers are large, muscular dogs with a strong bite and can be aggressive towards strangers if not bred well.
CCTV footage from the road shows two people arrive in an auto-rickshaw and drop off the two Rottweilers around 10pm on Thursday, about an hour before the attack, inspector K.T. Annayya of Davangere rural police told The Telegraph.
Annayya said: “A final conclusion on their identity is yet to be confirmed. An investigation is on."
He added that an FIR had been registered under penal sections 291 (negligent conduct with an animal that could pose a danger to humans), 105 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 106 (causing death by negligence).
Residents who had come out hearing the commotion and found a severely injured Anita told the local media they had great difficulty in shooing away the two dogs, which charged at them too.
By the time Anita had been taken to hospital in an ambulance, she was already dead.
Photographs of men carrying long sticks with what appears a Rottweiler gagged and bound to them have been circulating on social media. It’s not clear who took the pictures or where.
Residents of the village have urged the police to slap murder charges on those who abandoned the Rottweilers on the road.
The villagers, who are mostly into farming and livestock rearing, said they had been complaining about the stray dog threat for quite some time.
Anita, a homemaker, leaves behind three children. Her husband passed five years ago. Her family has urged the police to look into any possible foul play in her death.
B.S. Basavaraj, deputy superintendent of police, Davangere Rural police, told this newspaper that persons behind the abandonment of the Rottweilers have been identified. He also said that they would arrest the culprits on Saturday night itself. Angry locals have beaten both the Rottweilers to death.
"The people were upset about what had happened to Anita. They beat the two violent dogs to death. The post-mortem of Anita was completed in Bengaluru on Friday, and the body has been handed over to her family," said Basavaraj.
He said the post-mortem of the Rottweilers has been done.
Court rulings
Karnataka High Court had on April 10 last year overturned a central government order that urged the states to ban the sale, breeding or keeping of 23 “ferocious and dangerous” dog breeds including Rottweilers, American Pitbulls and Bull Mastiffs.
These dogs are banned in several foreign countries.
The high court ruling was prompted by opposition to the government order from pet lovers and members of the Kennel Club, Karnataka.
The high court maintained that the Centre could not impose the ban without a recommendation from a properly constituted committee.
On November 7, the Supreme Court ordered the removal of stray dogs countrywide from public places such as schools, colleges, hospitals, bus stops and railway stations, as well as national and state highways, and their relocation to canine shelters.
After being rounded up and sterilised, the stray dogs must not be allowed back in their former neighbourhoods, the court added, prompting cries of dismay from dog lovers’ organisations.
The directives came amid a countrywide rise in stray dog bites, rabies-related deaths and road accidents caused by stray animals.