Overview

• On August 17, CCTV footage captured three stray dogs knocking down and dragging a five-year-old boy outside his Gautam Vihar home before his mother chased them off and he was hospitalized.
• The attack occurred six days after a Supreme Court bench directed authorities to clear streets of stray dogs and establish a 5,000-dog shelter in Delhi-NCR.
• Residents in the colony reported widespread panic, noting a similar mauling of an eight-year-old two months earlier in Udaipur as evidence of recurring child attacks.
• Local bodies have struggled to expand Animal Birth Control sterilization and vaccination drives, allowing unconfined dog populations to persist in residential areas.
• Growing public outrage is placing pressure on courts and municipal authorities to convert directives into coordinated catch-vaccinate-sterilize operations and new shelter capacity.