ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI – The increasing number of stray dogs has made life difficult for the residents of capital’s rural areas, creating health problems for them and posing danger to their lives.

The stray dogs usually moving in small groups and can easily be seen roaming in almost every street and road of capital’s rural areas in evening and night times.
It has been observed that in a number of localities of capital’s rural areas, it has become almost impossible for citizens to move freely at night because of great increase in number of stray dogs.
Killing of stray dogs has never been taken seriously despite continuous rise in number of deaths due to dog-bites. The people have held responsible the lack of planning by the concerned departments for increasing number of stray dogs.
Meanwhile, the citizens of the federal capital are terrified by the surge in free movement of wild boars in greenbelts and residential sectors with the fall of night. Residents of Sector F10 said that wild boars throng the area after sunset and remain in sight until dawn, a time when people go to mosques. “They come out of nowhere on the roads, making it extremely hard to drive at times,” said a motorist.
“Some years back, wild boars used to roam in the area after midnight but now they come out in herds as soon as the night falls. We are scared to come out of our homes in fear that they might attack us,” said a housewife. The presence of wild boars in such a great number has raised a question mark on the efficiency of the CDA to eliminate the animals. The people have demanded the CDA launch a grand operation against wild boars in order to avoid any untoward incident
Meanwhile, a large number of stray dogs in Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) areas have become a constant trouble for the residents as authorities concerned has yet to take measures to eliminate them.
Incidents of dog bite are also inasing in Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) areas due to non-initiation of any operation against the stray dogs by the concerned quarters. Residents of the area particularly the children, women and aged persons can not go outside their homes even in day time.
“We can not send our children to their schools alone and we have to accompany them upto pick and drop point, said a house wife. The dogs can be seen on roads and streets of RCB areas, particularly Allama Iqbal Colony, Tench Bhatta, Dhok Seydian, Kiani Road, RA Bazaar, Dhoke Chaudharian, Afshan Colony and several other RCB localities.
The residents of RCB while talking to APP said that they are not only scared to walk on the roads and streets but many of us are not letting their children play outside. “The number of stray dogs in our area is increasing rapidly for the last several months”, said Tariq a Peoples Colony resident.
He said there seemed no proper planning to purge the area of these stray dogs. Faha, resident of Kiani Road said she feared the dogs ever since she had been attacked on night. “I keep my doors locked at all times and never allow my children to go out for playing,” she said.
“The dogs are usually seen around garbage heaps during the day, while they wandering on roads and streets at night”, said another resident. He said the dogs usually moved in small groups and became violent when they came across pedestrians.
The stray dogs come out on to the streets mostly later in the evening and attack the citizens, said Altaf, a resident of Dhoke Seydian. He said that in the past the concerned authorities had been taking action for eliminating stray dogs, but still a large number of dogs could be seen wandering around the locality.
Now, it has become a serious problem for the residents for which appropriate action should be taken by the authorities concerned of RCB, remarked another person.