Web of Life

I refer to the untimely death of a child resulting from a bite by a stray dog. There is an enquiry at present to ascertain whether there had been medical negligence. I hope the enquiry will be taken to its logical end. Whatever the result of the enquiry, the sad fact is that death is not reversible.

There is a wider aspect to this problem. In an average more than 200 cases of dog bites are treated at the Lady Ridgeway hospital alone every month. What action the society as such, the parents of children, the City Fathers, the Local Authorities, and others concerned are taking to prevent these dog bites? Everywhere, even in the very heart of the Colombo city, stray dogs are roaming the streets at freedom. Everyone of them could be a potential killer.

There is absolutely no civic sense. No one is bothered until a dog bites his or her own child. Even if we are concerned, we can hardly do anything about it because there are owners to even straying dogs and there could be problems, if we take laws into our hands. So it is the authorities concerned that should take action.

There could well be a social indepth investigation into this particular case of death itself. Where did the dog bite take place? Which is the Local Authority responsible? What is the programme they have implemented during the past with regard to eradication of stray dogs? If there had been no such programme, who is answerable? Did the dog bite take place closer to the child’s residence. If yes; what is the action the residents of the area including the parents of the child concerned took with regard to the stray dogs? Was there an owner to this stray dog? If the correct answers are found to these and other related questions, there will be a startling revelation of how negligent we all are and how irresponsible the society is.