ISLAMABAD: Employees and visitors of the General Post Office (GPO) here are in a complicated situation with a protective female canine who just gave birth to six puppies outside the main entrance and is wary of humans, more than five persons had become victims of its bites in ten days complained on Tuesday.
An employee of the facility’s Treasury Branch, Ansar Abbas, who was attacked by the dog on Tuesday said, “I was about to enter the main gate at 7 am when I was bitten on my leg from behind.”
He said he rushed to the Polyclinic Hospital where no vaccination facility against dog bites was available and after being administered Tetanus injection, he was asked to go to the Dog Bite Centre in Chak Shahzad.
Another victim Zahir, a security guard at the GPO, said that he was also bitten some three days back and got vaccinated from the Polyclinic Hospital, a facility just at a three-minute walking distance from his workplace.
“The female canine which delivered pups some ten days ago starts barking at the passers-by in self-defence. I am using an alternative route for my mobility to avoid another attack,” he told.
When contacted, a lady doctor at the Polyclinic Hospital said the hospital had been receiving an average of three to four patients of dog bite per month. “We are offering zero doze to a rabies patient, as the hospital does not have the anti-rabies vaccine in its stock at present,” she said.
“The patients were recommended to purchase the vaccine from the market,” she added.
The GPO’s Assistant Superintendent Muhammad Nawaz said the presence of the protective mother dog with its puppies was a matter of grave concern for both her safety and public safety as over 2,000 people visited the office daily.
He, however, said none of the victim employees had complained in writing to the high-ups.
An official from the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) Sanitation Directorate said as per authorities’ by-laws and standing operating procedures, they were bound to take action on a complaint lodged with them in writing.
“After receiving a complaint, the authority dispatches a team to the site for removing or killing the stray dog after conducting an inquiry,” he added.
A veterinary doctor at the National Agricultural and Research Center, Amir Hussain said that a child-bearing bitch may become aggressive to safeguard its puppies and there also might be more chances of rabies due to certain behavioural changes in such dogs.
He asked the relevant authorities to remove the family from the frequently visited public place for the betterment of all living things.
