After monkey and stray cattle, its now turn of stray dogs to create menace for crossing motorists on Kalka-Shimla national highway. The stray dogs galore thanks to feeding by roadside dhaba owners has emerged as a major problem for locals who were virtually helpless to overcome the problem. The dogs keep roaming in and around the dhabas along the highway.
The tourists encounter the greedy stray dogs as soon as they make a stop at these dhabhas and eating points. The stray dogs hound these tourists who come to hills for joyride and outing.
In some cases they have even attacked the tourists. Jabli, Sanwara and Barog are the worst affected areas. There presence on large scale has posed to great risk to security particular to women and kids. No efforts have yet been done to check the stray dogs population, rued the residents here.
An urgent need to sterilize the dogs has arised, pointed out a local social worker. The veterinary department should ask the respective panchayats to launch the joint drive to arrest the menace, he maintained.
Interestingly the emergence of stray dogs has caused a catch-22 situation for residents who were already reeling under simian menace. The efforts of Forest Department to check monkey menace by trapping them has failed to serve the purpose.
