City corporation put down 14,097 stray dogs in the past three and half years till June in a bid to curb the menace of attacks to the residents.

Of them, 3232 were eliminated in 2001, 2778 in 2002, 4548 in 2003 and 3539 during January to June this year, officials said.

The officials said that the dogs were trapped to silent death by using poisonous tablets concealed in a piece of meat or other foods.

"We were forced to kill the street dogs as they attack passers-by frequently," said Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury.

"We have taken a programme to eliminate the unruly dogs from the streets to ensure peaceful and hazard-free movement of the people in the port city," he said. "The stray dogs created a nuisance at different points of the city attacking the residents frequently," he added.

"We also supply anti-rabies vaccines to the people bitten by the dogs," the mayor said adding, "The vaccines are very costly and we are to procure the same every year."

Chief Health Officer (CHO) Dr. Sarfaraj Khan said, "Normally it is difficult to eliminate the street dogs, but our team members tactfully poison them to silent death by feeding the tablets".

"After eating the bait with poisonous tablet the dogs immediately succumb without any hassle and this is a very easy technique to eliminate the unclaimed dogs from the locality," Dr. Khan said.

"Frequently we launch drive to put down the dogs in the city. In spite of that we don't know from where large number of dogs appear on the city roads," he added. "I think still about 50,000 stray dogs are roaming in and around the city and that is why we need to continue the drive to finish them off."

" We also receive written complaints from city dwellers and different organisations about the nuisance unleashed by the unruly dogs and take action immediately in this regard," Dr. Khan said.

"Sometimes, the dogs get so ferocious that they attempt to attack the passing vehicles on the city streets or block the roads creating obstacles to traffic movement," he said.

"In some localities the dogs appear on the roads in large number after evening as if these are their 'night clubs', said Md. Hasan, a city dweller. In such a situation people are forced to divert their way fearing dog bite, he added.