With 3L stray dogs, 900 bite cases daily in Punjab

IN Punjab, there are over 3,00,000 stray dogs out of a total dog population of about 650,000. On average, about 882 dog bite cases are reported each day, showing a significant increase over the past five years.

- HARPREET BAJWA @Chandigarh

In the first seven months of this year, there have already been 188,000 dog bite cases, compared to 213,000 cases reported last year. The districts most affected by dog bites are Jalandhar, Ludhiana, and Patiala. Official data from the state health department reveals that Amritsar district reported the highest number of cases this year, with 29,504. Ludhiana follows this with 21,777 cases and Patiala with 14,120 cases. Jalandhar reported 12,349 cases, Hoshiarpur had 10,920, and SAS Nagar recorded 9,860 cases.