In Punjab, the dog menace is taking a serious turn. Flocks of stray dogs maul kids and others at will and in many cases it has resulted in the painful death of victims.In the past one week, three persons including a child,an old woman and a teenager have been attacked and killed by stray dogs. Besides the stray dogs have also targeted 30 black bucks in a zoo in Bhatinda leading to their death.Quoting former Health Minister of Punjab, Laxmikanta Chawla, Our Jalandhar Correspondent reports that besides such killings, the number of dog bites is also rising in the state leading to an increase in cases of rabies.From April 2011 to March this year, 16000 cases of dog bites have been registered in various civil hospitals of the state. According to a report of World Health Organisation (WHO), 35,000 people die of rabies in India every year.In March, this year 18 cases of dog bites were registerd in Morinda civil hospital. This forced the Punjab Human Rights Commission to consider a news report about it and register the incident as a complaint. The PHRC has asked the concerned Deputy Commissioner to submit a report under Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 by May 21st.Former health minister, Laxmikanta Chawla has asked the state government to help general public in saving their lives as well as of animals from stray dogs.