5 Year Old Girl Attacked By 2 Rottweilers, Owners Arrested, Girl In Hospital

A five-year-old girl suffered serious injuries as she was attacked by two Rottweilers on Sunday.

The incident took place in the Thousand Lights district in Chennai, in a public park, where the owner had reportedly let the dogs loose.

The owner initially did not intervene when the dogs attacked the child. Action was only taken by the owner when the parents stepped in, according to a report in NDTV. As a result, the police filed a case of negligence against the owners.

The authorities have arrested three people in connection with the incident - the owner who was walking the dog, Pugazhendi, as well as his wife and son, Daily Thanthi reported.

The victim has been identified as Sudaksha, the daughter of one of the maintenance workers for the park. She was rushed to the hospital after the attack.

In a similar incident of a dog attack, a 6-year-old child fell victim to a German Shepherd's aggression while in the presence of her mother.

Thankfully, the situation didn't escalate further as the dog's owner swiftly intervened, pulling the German Shepherd away after it had bitten the child. The harrowing incident unfolded within the premises of an apartment complex in Ghaziabad, last week. The incident was caught on camera.

The latest incident comes less than two months after a letter was sent by the Centre's Department of Animal Husbandry to all states. The letter asked for a ban on the import, export, breeding, and sale of dog breeds such as Pitbull Terriers, Russian Shepherd Dogs, and Rottweilers. The list included 19 other dog breeds which can be read below.

The incident also adds to a long list of dog bite incidents that have been occurring in India for many years. A report by the Ministry of Animal Husbandry said that in 2022 alone, around 14 lakh people were victims of dog bites. These are just the reported incidents. The full report, which contains the statistics from 2019-2022, can be read below.

The incident has once again sparked debate about what steps should be taken to protect people against stray dog attacks, and whether those steps are a humane way of dealing with the issue at hand.