Woman migrant worker's lip bitten off by stray dogs

Kannur: In yet another incident of stray dog attack in Kerala, a 40-year-old woman migrant worker was severely mauled by a pack of dogs, leaving her badly injured at Thalassery here Saturday.

The incident took place when Radha, a native of Hunsur in Karnataka, was sleeping along with some other workers in a makeshift tent near an over-bridge in the wee hours, police said.

According to locals, the dogs virtually dragged the hapless woman a few meters from the tent before she was rescued by others who woke up hearing her screaming.

She suffered severe injuries on nose and neck and her upper lip was almost bitten off by the canines, they said.

The woman was rushed to the state-run Thalassery general hospital and later shifted to Kozhikode Medical College hospital for further treatment, police said.

The incident comes at a time when a debate is raging in the state on how to check the growing stray dog attacks with a group of pet lovers opposing the move of the state government to cull violent dogs.

A case in this regard is also pending in the Supreme Court.

The stray dog menace in Kerala has come into sharp focus after a 65-year-old woman was mauled to death by a pack of street dogs at the coastal hamlet of Pullivilla near Thiruvananthapuram on August 19.

A number of persons, most of them women and children, were injured in such dog attacks at different places in the state recently.

The state government has said it would take measures, including culling violent canines, to tackle the problem.

However, Union minister Maneka Gandhi slammed the state government's move to cull dogs.