FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2024
ecently, two unsuspecting kids were brutally bitten and injured by a pet Rottweiler in the Taleigao area. The injuries sustained by the victims were so serious that they had to be admitted in the GMC and given stitches.
While it is known that Rottweilers are very ferocious animals and there have been incidents of attacks, what has really moved the people all over Goa is that two helpless innocent children had to pay the price for someone else’s negligence. They could have suffered a fate which would have been very tragic. They’re still in hospital and suffering. The little girl’s upper torso, face and head have sustained injuries. The canine bit into the young boy’s arms and other parts of his body.
The circumstances were such that the particular Rottweiler ended up attacking these children and biting them. But the tragedy is, neither the owner nor his family members intervened to prevent the attack, nor did they take the children to hospital for treatment. They just turned away in a manner that is most inhumane and despicable.
There was nobody to even take them to the hospital and the ambulance came late. The series of circumstances catapulted into something that was that became very close to a very serious tragedy. This incident has triggered the need to assess this whole issue of pet dogs and also stray dogs, and the conflicts they have with society.
Two days after a Rottweiler dog inflicted severe injuries on two children in Oitem-Taleigao, the Panjim police arrested the owner of the dog on charges of negligence, as it was his failure to exercise proper care that ultimately resulted in the unfortunate incident.
The point here is that animals need a lot of care and attention. The idea is not to brand an animal as a wild beast but ideally to ensure that these animals are trained and nurtured. Training is a very important responsibility, which many dog owners do not seem to understand and follow that there are different rules and regulations governing the management of pets as well as the stray animals.
These things really matter to a good society, a proper civilization and if you look at the countries in the West, a lot of these rules are not really governed or followed.
Reacting to the whole issue, Vivek Bhandari, a resident of Taleigao, where the tragic incident occurred, called it an unfortunate incident.
“The kids were out for a walk when they came near a housing society, which had the Rottweiler. The society gate was open and the maid who was handling this dog, said that there was no need to feel scared as the dog won’t do anything. Then all of a sudden, it rushed out of the gate and attacked the unsuspecting children,” Bhandari said.
“The dog first attacked the younger sibling. Then subsequently, it struck the older sibling and caught him by her neck. It dug its canines so deeply that the people there, including the maid, were not able to release the girl from the dog’s grasp. Finally, they managed to pull her away, but she was grievously hurt by then. Blood was coming out from everywhere. They were then taken to the GMC and given stitches. They are recovering now,” he said.
The ambulance was called at 7.20pm, which came at 7.55pm. The police also came and the children were taken to hospital.
Giving her assessment of the situation, Norma Alvares, President of ‘People for Animals’ NGO, said, “From the information available about the incident, it is very obvious that the animal was not rigorously trained at all. Rottweilers are very powerful animals. It is not just another pet.”
“In this case, the animal is not so much to be blamed as much as the training. When you own a Rottweiler, you have to be aware that you have to train it and discipline it to listen to your commands. You simply cannot pull it back, because the Rottweiler’s strength is three times of your strength and besides, Rottweilers are very self-willed dogs. They are powerful dogs, they have a sense of their own worth,” Alvares said.
“I believe O Heraldo newspaper reported that the dog was sniffing around when the mother asked it to be taken away. And if a command was given, the dog would listen to it and might have backed down. But pulling it back when it was trying to go forward, meant that you are going against the dog’s will. So, the first thing that I can figure out is that the dog is not trained and if you own a Rottweiler and you do not train it, you are totally at fault,” she said.
“It is a very serious offence to own such a powerful animal in the neighbourhood without having trained it adequately. Another very important thing that I feel is that the dog hasn’t socialised. The whole essence of training a Rottweiler is that, when it is very young, you get it to socialise, which means you take it in the community,” she said.
“Rottweiler is a dog which protects the family. Basically, the Rottweiler protects the owner. It protects you. It understands that this is your wife, children, maybe brother or grandfather. Whatever is in the environs of your family and it says this is my job to protect. So, perhaps when the gate was open, it may have perceived the children as intruders,” she said.
“Second thing is that, Rottweiler should have been trained not to go out of the gate. The powerful breeds have to be trained repeatedly because it asserts itself. You should recognise that. Suppose you said “come” to the Rottweiler and it’s not coming, it means it’s already testing whether you are the boss or it is the boss. It means that you have to reassert your training,” Alvares said.
“So, from the incident that has been related, I feel the dog is not trained and the owner has not bothered about training it. Perhaps, it’s a prestige symbol to own a Rottweiler. But that is not enough at all with a powerful dog like the Rottweiler,” she said.
“I am also really appalled at the inhumanity of the family, who owned the Rottweiler. They should have tied up the dog or leashed it as soon as it was under their control. They should have run to see what help they could render to this poor woman and her children, who were bleeding profusely. The people in the neighbourhood had to call for an ambulance, when the dog owners could have taken the children to hospital in their car, instead of turning their backs. If they can own a Rottweiler, surely they would be having a car,” the senior social activist said.
Describing the Rottweiler breed of dogs, veterinary doctor Marvin Lopes said, “The Rottweilers and the Pitbull terriers have a different kind of a bite. Their jaws move in such a way that can crush any bone. That’s why they’re considered very dangerous dogs and Rottweilers are very aggressive.
But you can’t generalise. I have seen in my practice Rottweilers, which are very friendly and restrained due to training.”
“But my message is, first of all don’t keep dogs as trophies. This is one thing which I am observing. People buy such dogs and put the maids or the servants in charge. Animals also need interaction with the owners and when they get that interaction with the owners, they get affection and become disciplined,” Dr Lopes said.
“When they are growing up, social interaction with other people also helps a lot. But what I see is that people just want a Rottweiler as a showpiece. So, while people buy the Rottweiler, they get fed up and the maid or the servant is looking after the dog. So, the dog has not seen that kind of training or affection,” he said.
“As long as it’s a Labrador or a Golden Retriever, it’s fine as long as they don’t attack. But Rottweilers are very dangerous. Till now I’ve completed almost 35 years of practice, but till now whenever a Rottweiler comes to my clinic, I’m very cautious. Many people have come to me and told the doctor that I want a good guard dog. I want a dangerous dog. I tell them, this dog is going to put you in legal problems. He’s going to bite someone and somebody’s going to file a suit on you,” he said.
“People don’t even know that they can be sued if their dog bites someone. Then keeping the gate open and allowing the dog to go out is also not acceptable. The owner must have known that the dog is unpredictable. That was very irresponsible on his part. So, all these factors have to be taken into account before keeping a pet dog,” he said.
When asked the reason behind fascination for trophy dogs and trophy pets, Sanchita Banerjee Rodrigues, Trustee, Panjim Animal Welfare Society said that it’s all about prestige.
“Owning anything expensive becomes a matter of prestige. It’s as simple as that. Also, you can’t pull a dog away when it bites you. But if you lift the two hind legs of the dog, it will leave the bite. Also, if there’s a dog bite, you have to wash the wound for 10 minutes under running water. Please do not compromise on that. Then rush to your nearest health centre,” Rodrigues said.
What was the help rendered to the two children in this case and how did the family of the owners behave, exactly how quickly did the help come? Also at the same time, are our local health centres equipped to handle this or you definitely need to run to GMC?
Responding to the question, Bhandari said that basically the only reason why this news became a headline was because after the incident, no one from the owner’s family came to help the victims. Nobody took any action such as calling the ambulance or informing the police or any such thing.
“It’s not right. At least for humanity’s sake, they should have offered to help. Mistakes happened. The owner was not around that day. But when he came to know about it, he apologised for the incident. But the damage was done by that time. Moreover, after knowing about the incident, the owner should have personally gone to the hospital to check the condition of the children. Instead, he sent his manager. This is also unacceptable. There should be some sense of social and moral responsibility. Afterall, it was his dog which was responsible for the entire incident,” he said.
“We are not against dogs. But the dog was not trained. We insisted that the dog should be kept at a location away from our society. We called the police and ambulance after the incident,” he added.
In incidents such as these, what are the legal responsibilities that dog owners have and does the law give the victim the power to take action?
“In any incident where there is violence done upon you, you can always take action by filing a police complaint. Like in this case, the police have rightly taken them under provisions of the IPC, because when a case is filed, there will be penalties and there should be compensation. A person who’s attacked can take such action,” Alvares said.
But the victims don’t file a complaint because sometimes they try out a court settlement. The offender makes payments to the victim and promises to compensate. There are regulations regarding the breeding of dogs. There are rules about pet ownership.
“The Animal Husbandry Department framed guidelines for the management of stray dogs and pet dogs. If you have a pet, do not take it for walks in areas where children are playing. Take them out because all dogs have to be exercised and they cannot be kept in the confines of the room. At the same time the open spaces of a gated community are for people as well,”
So, there’s a conflict between some people who are afraid of dogs, some people who don’t like dogs and cats. Society has to get on with it,” Alvares said.
So therefore, there are rules framed about how you feed the animals, where you should feed them, the timings that you should take them for walks. One has to exercise them because if you don’t take them out, that is cruelty to the animals.
“I was for instance hearing people saying we don’t want these dogs. It’s a natural reaction. But think about it that you are penalising a dog which has not understood what it has done. It has not understood it has followed its natural instinct and the errors made by the humans trying to pull them back, when their focus was on something else. Maybe it would have sniffed and gone back on its own,” she said.
“One doesn’t know, but the moment the maid exercised her option to pull it back, it meant that she was making the dog do something which I presume it did not recognise. It considers the maid lower in some manner in comparison to its owner. It is not willing to listen to the maid. Its eyes are locked in on the two children and it then goes forward,” the senior activist said.
“Mistakes are done by humans but the housing society residents say we don’t want these dogs, which mean that if the dogs, which have a home, will be taken away and put them somewhere where all of a sudden they have no owner, they have no parent, no family. That is tragic for the dog. The fault is of the owners in this case, not the dogs,” she said.
“So I just like to read you a little bit about these dogs. I did a little research. It says that the Rottweiler is a robust working breed of great strength, descended from the Mastiffs of the Roman Legions. They used to use it when they attacked other countries on their marauding trips. Later on, when the Roman Empire declined, they became tough dogs, who used to guard the Infantry and the Cavalry and so on,” Alvares said.
They subsequently became work dogs in a town called Rottweiler in Germany. There they used to protect the herds which used to go from the pasture to the market, protecting them from the bandits.
“Look at the kind of dogs that they are. They are such strong dogs and that is how they earned the name of butcher’s dog or a Rottweiler. Later on, they became police dogs, personal protectors and they are capable of heavy duty tasks. But, they have changed little in form or in temper since their original mastiff breed,” she said.
These are self-willed dogs. They are protectors of the family and if they are properly trained, their temper can be calmed. Otherwise, they are aloof with strangers unless you socialise with them. And they hate to lose.
“Did the owner know all this when he got the dog? Does he know how to control this animal if it goes out of control? Has he trained it to listen to his maid? If he hasn’t done that, what could the maid do?” she said.
Alvares informed that while the guidelines are there regarding these dogs, it is not known whether they are being followed or not. It is not known whether these are registered with the civic body because it has to know how many pet dogs are there in a locality and which of them are from the stronger breeds. What protections are being taken and whether they have been trained or not.
She said that abroad, you can’t keep an untrained dog. The dog has to pass an obedient test.
“There’s Section 289 of IPC. It specifically says that complaints can be filed right by citizens against persons for any negligence which is done to them. In this case there’s a clear case of negligence. The negligence starts with the gate being opened, and continues with the person who does not know how to control the dog. The negligence also amounts to restraining and pulling back a dog which you cannot pull back. Not attending to the injured persons and instead expecting them to fend for them, is also negligence,” she said.
“I mean I cannot think of more abominable behaviour than this. I can understand and maybe the gate was left open by mistake. But the series of incidents after that is simply not acceptable. The mother was frantically calling her husband over mobile and walking with bleeding children towards her house. When some neighbours saw it, they took them to a garage and kept them there till she calmed down a bit. The victims are from a poor family. Wasn’t it the responsibility of the dog owner to take them to his house and arrange for treatment?” she questioned.
Speaking about the future plans, Bhandari said that the locals have not pressed for legal action yet. They just want justice for the family in a way of compensation from the owner and he should look after the kids who are admitted in the hospital as they are not financially strong.
How should society look at this issue to prevent future occurrences of this type? Should there be stringent laws for it?
“I think we have adequate laws,” said Norma Alvares. “But I think looking after animals is not a priority with municipalities or with the authorities. And whatever laws are there for registration, for sterilisation, they must be enforced. Municipalities don’t bother to enforce the laws that are there. They don’t bother. They don’t send their staff around to do a survey and find out how many dogs are there in the area, how many pet dogs are there, are they sterilised or not,” she said.
“I would request members of the society please do not get a pet dog of such aggressive strong breeds. I won’t use the word ferocious. But strong breeds, unless you know the background of the dog, its characteristics and you are prepared to undertake training yourself on how to handle that dog,” she said.
“You should also have the time and the energy to train and handle that dog, otherwise it is a liability on the society,” she said.
Is the system equipped to handle cases like dog bites, dog attacks? Do the hospitals and the healthcare centres have enough medicines and so on and so forth to take care of the victims?
“As per my knowledge, all the urban health centres have been provided with anti-rabies vaccine and serum,” Dr Lopes said.
Sanchita Banerjee urged dog bite victims to go to government healthcare centres for treatment.
This whole management and care of animals has to be a priority for the urban and rural local bodies, which does not seem to be happening right now. Also, the emphasis is and should be on training the pet dogs. The owners of dogs which bite others should take the onus on themselves of not only training their dogs but also taking care of the victims and not just walk away. There is a lot to do in preventing such incidents and it is time that the society as a whole gets its act together.
