Sitapur, May 6:  In a shocking incident, a nine year old boy died in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur district after a stray dog attacked him. According to a news report in CNN News18, the incident occurred when the deceased boy went out to graze goats in a field. While the district administration has blamed the incident on the closure of illegal abattoirs which provided leftover meat to stray dogs.

District Magistrate of Sitapur, Sheetal Verma told reporters, “The closure of illegal slaughterhouses in Khairabad Municipal Corporation of Sitapur district seems to be the reason why dogs are attacking children. Earlier, the dogs were feeding on the remains of slaughtered animals coming from the illegal slaughterhouses. But now as the hounds are not getting meat and thus may have started attacking children." Verma further quoted as saying the disposal of animal carcasses has been prohibited in Khairabad, which was also a source of food for dogs. “We have constituted teams which include police officers, forest officials, and villagers to curb the attacks,” Verma added.

The report also mentioned that the parents in Sitapur district are in a state of fear and hence, have stopped sending their kids to schools. As per the District Inspector of School, Devki Singh, “The schools in Khairabad area have seen a big drop in attendance recently. Subsequently, directions were issued to all that their parents must accompany students to school and some adult of the family should take them back after school. Teachers have been told to make the children aware of the context."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 06, 2018 02:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).