Participants grapple with stray dogs, monkey attacks in mountain marathon held in Nainital

Three participants in the Mountain Marathon, a 21-km event held in Nainital on Sunday morning, were attacked and bitten by stray dogs and monkeys as horrified onlookers looked on.

Arun Adhikari, a resident of Almora and Lakshman Singh, a Nainital resident who were chased and bitten by dogs as they were running in the Ayarpatta area, told reporters, “A pack of dogs suddenly appeared when we were near the Raj Bhawan and started chasing us. We tried to dodge them but they did not relent and bit us,” said Singh who is being treated for dog bites along with the other victims in a government hospital in the city.

The incident accentuated the grave canine and simian menace that the lake town has been grappling with. Last month, a 10-year-old girl, a tourist from Rajasthan, had died after being chased by strays on Mall Road. Earlier this month, over 500 residents had taken out a protest march exhorting the municipal corporation and the district administration to take immediate action against the strays. Uttarakhand high court has also intervened on multiple occasions asking the administration to rein in the animals but not much improvement seems to have happened on the ground.