Gujarat emerges as one of the states with highest number of dog bite incidents

Gujarat has emerged as one of states with highest number of reported dog bite incidents in country during previous year, as per Minister of State for Health Prof SatyaPal Singh Baghel.

The Minister was replying to a query during last monsoon session of Parliament. Garnering attention for its alarming figures, state secured fifth position nationally, with a staggering 1,69,261 documented cases of dog bites.

According to the data, 1.69 lakh persons may have been bitten by stray dogs in 2022.

Every hour, on average, 19 persons were bitten.

The minister claimed that in 2022, Maharashtra had the highest rate of dog bites, with 45 per hour, followed by Tamil Nadu with 42, Uttar Pradesh with 22, Gujarat with 19, Karnataka with 19, and Bihar with 16.

This translates to 19 bites each hour and an average of 464 attacks per day.

Despite the alarming statistics, there has been a clear trend of less dog bite incidents over time. According to the statistics, there were 4.31 lakh instances in 2020, 1.92 lakh in 2021, and 1.69 lakh in 2022.