Stray dogs attack Punggol jogger: report
A 20-year-old jogger was attacked by a pack of nine stray dogs at a new park in Punggol on Wednesday night, reported Channel NewsAsia.
The student, Alicia Tay, was jogging at the recently developed Waterway Park when the attack happened. She escaped with a few scratches and bites.
Based on the report on CNA, Tay, who goes for frequent jogs around the neighbourhood, said that she had slowed to a brisk walk when she saw the dogs, which followed her and then scraped her legs. She screamed when one of them bit her leg, which scared it away.
“I thought maybe if I left them alone, maybe if I don't give them any attention they would leave me alone as well,” Tay, who believed the dogs could sense her fear, was quoted by CNA as saying.
A father-and-daughter pair who had jogged past the dogs without any incident earlier came to her aid. Tay later got a tetanus jab at a nearby clinic, the report added.
Animal welfare group Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD) said the pack could have been abandoned by construction workers.
“We see this incident as part of the pack protecting their territory,” explained Ricky Yeo, president of ASD, as reported by CNA. “The Punggol Waterway has just been completed, so a lot of the undeveloped land has been developed now. So their natural habitat has been destroyed.”
Said a resident Maven Ang, “The place is still quite deserted so even if we are attacked, help might not come so quickly.”
“I hope the corresponding authorities will do something about these stray dogs soon,” the 24-year-old added.
Singapore's Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) has been carrying out control operations in the area since September. They have rounded up 22 dogs so far.
In an e-mail statement to Yahoo! Singapore, AVA said that they have “engaged external service providers to complement our (their) efforts in rounding up the stray dogs” as the dogs are elusive.
“The dogs will run about at night, and they’re quite smart,” shared another resident Joey Chan. “There was once when I was driving back home and I had to stop the car just to let one cross the road.”
“But I think if you don’t go and disturb them, they won’t attack you. The more you run, the more dangerous it is,” added the 31-year-old.
Should members of the public encounter stray dogs, they are advised to remain calm, slow down and walk away in a different direction.
