The Western Regional office of the Veterinary Service of Ghana has killed an Alsatian dog after establishing it poses a serious threat to human life.
The dog in question attacked and bit Bismark Adzie, a 6-year-old class one pupil to death on June 20, 2017, at New Amanful in the Ahanta West District of the Western region.
The dog was quarantined by the Veterinary Service for two weeks for monitoring to establish whether it was suffering from rabies. It was however released to its owner after the expiration of the period, and upon establishing it was free from the said disease.
However, upon further investigation, it was found that the dog poses a very serious threat to human life. The Service, therefore, ordered the owner through the police to return it to the Veterinary Service to be put to rest.
The process, known a Euthanasia which took place at the Headquarters of the Regional Veterinary Service on Friday morning, July 14, 2017, lasted for about five seconds through an injection of a chemical called T61 administered by the veterinary service personnel.
After the exercise, Dr Simon Gbene, the Acting Director of the Service in the Western region noted that this is the first time Ghana has destroyed an animal through Euthanasia though it is very common in the Western countries.
He gave a word of caution to dog owners, school authorities and the general public to be very wary of dogs wherever and whenever they come close to them since some could be very unpredictable.
He says the Veterinary Service will soon come out with new guidelines on dog possession and ownership in the country.
Present at the exercise were officers of the Veterinary Service including the Regional Director, a Police CID and the media.