A pack of stray dogs attacked and seriously injured at least six persons at Hanumanthurayunipalem near Kumarole in Prakasam district on Saturday. The injured were rushed to the government general hospital in Giddalur.
Panicked residents in the locality urged the State government to take immediate steps to address the stray-dog menace.
The rise in the number of stray dogs exposed the absence of a system for animal health care and control, observed Poura Samajam president G. Narasimha Rao, a retired veterinary doctor.
A majority of the dogs abandoned on streets went on a biting spree, posing a grave threat to residents, including children, he added and called for periodic vaccination and sterilization drives and handing such dogs over to animal welfare organisations.