Four-year-old boy mauled to death by stray dogs in India

In a gruesome incident reported from Telangana, India, a 4-year-old boy was mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs.

The horrific incident took place in the Amberpet area of Hyderabad on Sunday. But it came to light on Tuesday only after CCTV footage of the boy being surrounded by four dogs went viral on social media.

The boy, identified as Pradeep, was walking alone on the street when four dogs started barking at him and eventually attacked him. He is the son of a security guard who works at an automobile workshop. He had accompanied his father to work on the day of the incident.

He could be seen trying to run away from the dogs when they charged at him and pushed him to the ground again and again. He was immediately rushed to the hospital, where he was declared dead. According to a report in The Indian Express, the boy died while on his way to the hospital.

The incident has sent shockwaves across the city, and people have been asking authorities to take strict action in the matter. The authorities at Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) have launched an operation to track all stray dogs and sterilise them.

"We have picked up around 33 dogs from the area, and so far we have sterilised 25. All the dogs will be released in the same areas after the post-operative care," GHMC Deputy Director Chakrapani Reddy told The Independent.

The grisly attack comes merely two weeks after another 4-year-old boy died after being attacked by stray dogs in Surat, Gujarat. The boy was attacked by four dogs in the early hours of February 8.

Stray dog attacks have reportedly increased all over India in recent years.

In 2021, a seven-year-old boy who was on his way home from a market was brutally attacked and mauled to death by seven stray dogs at Amarkot village in Himachal Pradesh. Vikki, who is the son of a migrant labourer, was attacked by a pack of dogs while he was walking home.

The boy sustained multiple injuries to his head, throat, neck, and stomach. He was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, but was declared "brought dead" by the doctors there.

Last year, a stray dog managed to enter the maternity ward of a hospital in Panipat, Haryana and fled with a newborn. The newborn's body was found the next day outside the hospital. A World Health Organisation (WHO) report states that around 20,000 people die annually of rabies in India.