Canine peril

Silchar, April 5: Section 144 CrPC has been clamped on dogs in Lunglei town, the headquarters of Lunglei district in south Mizoram, for two months.

The prohibitory step was taken last week after dogs bit at least 10 persons, Lunglei district deputy commissioner Margaret Zomingthangi said over telephone today.

The administration has asked the residents of the headquarters town to keep their dogs, raised as pets or reared for meat, inside their home compounds and not to allow them into the streets under any circumstances.

Mizos relish canine meat and rear dogs for the purpose. These dogs are often left to roam the streets, as they find their way back on their own. Some of these dogs had bitten the 10 people.

Zomingthangi said all the persons bitten by dogs had been admitted to Lunglei civil hospital. She said in case of four very poor patients, the administration had asked the hospital authorities to supply free medicines and proper nursing to them.

She, however, denied reports that a shoot-at-sight order had been issued to prevent rogue canines from biting pedestrians.

Zomingthangi said no head count of the canine population had ever been done in her district, but a rough estimate put the number of dogs in the town at 4,800.