New Delhi: The Supreme Court orally observed on Wednesday that there has to be an enduring solution to the issue of stray dogs in Kerala.

The court made the observation while considering the plea filed by the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KeSCPCR) that sought directions to curb the menace. The panel moved the apex court, citing an increase in stray dog attacks in Kerala, especially against children.

The child rights panel filed an intervention application before the Supreme Court in a pending civil appeal in which the Kannur district panchayat has also filed a plea for a direction to euthanize suspected rabid or extremely dangerous dogs in the district.

On Wednesday, former Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam appeared in person and submitted that he had filed an impleading application in the matter.

The Kannur Panchayat submitted that stray dogs had recently mauled a child to death. "We are not for indiscriminate killing at all. There are furious dogs that bite that cannot be controlled by birth control; we have to identify the ferocious dogs and kill them," it said in its submission.  

(With inputs from Livelaw)