20-month-old girl mauled to death by stray dogs in Ponda

Margao: A 20-month-old girl was mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs at Bonbag, Durgabhat in Ponda, early on Friday morning. The victim, identified as Anabia Issac Shaikh, was attacked just outside her uncle’s residence where she was staying with her mother.
The horror unfolded around 6.45am when the toddler, who had just woken up, stepped outside through the open main door, unnoticed by her mother. As the child wandered onto the road, she was set upon by seven to eight stray dogs that attacked her ferociously, dragging her several metres away.
Despite the desperate efforts of passersby who rushed to her aid upon hearing her screams, the child suffered severe injuries. She was rushed to the subdistrict hospital in Ponda but was declared dead on arrival by doctors.
The police surgeon who conducted the autopsy certified the cause of the child’s death as “haemorrhagic shock consequent to multiple ante-mortem injuries as a result of mauling by a pack of dogs.” Ponda police have booked the case as unnatural death.
The Shaikh family, residents of Shapur, Bandora in Ponda, were visiting relatives at Durgabhat. The attack ignited public outrage across the state, bringing the long-simmering menace of stray dogs back into sharp focus.
Ponda Municipal Council chairperson Anand Naik expressed deep regret over the child’s death while defending the municipality’s ongoing efforts to control the stray dog population.
“The municipality has been collaborating with People for Animals for the sterilisation of stray dogs. This drive will continue,” Naik told the media, while acknowledging that dog attacks have increased significantly in Ponda.
This fatal attack comes amid alarming statistics on dog bite cases in Goa. According to the data recently presented in the Lok Sabha by Union minister S P Singh Baghel, 1,789 dog bite cases — approximately 57 daily — were reported in Jan alone.
Goa currently harbours an estimated 56,000 stray dogs. While the state proudly maintains its status as India’s first rabies-controlled region with zero human rabies deaths for over five years, dog population control measures appear increasingly inadequate.
The coastal belt of Salcete has emerged as a particular hotspot of stray dog attacks in recent months, with numerous tourists becoming victims. In Cavelossim alone, eight tourists — including four Russians, two Indians, a Latvian, and a Briton — were attacked, most while walking or jogging along beaches.
The statistics paint a disturbing trend: from 8,057 dog bite cases in 2022, the number jumped to 11,904 in 2023 and reached a staggering 17,236 by the end of 2024 —representing a 100% increase in just two years.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant recently announced in the state budget that “the stray dog menace will be tackled” through large-scale sterilisation and vaccination programmes “with priority on coastal belts and beaches”.