A one-and-a-half-year-old boy, was mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs in a park in Chandigarh yesterday. The incident occurred when the victim's mother, who works as a domestic help, had left her four children in the park, when she went to a house to work.

Ayush, a resident of Palsora, was playing along with three other children when the dogs attacked them.

Too small to run for safety, the boy was surrounded and attacked by the dogs, even as other children managed to run from the spot.

Later, a police control room vehicle took the child to the Government Multi-specialty Hospital in Sector 16 where he was declared as brought dead, according to the police.

Residents of the area gathered at the spot and accused civic authorities of doing little to curb the stray dog menace.

People living in central and southern parts of Chandigarh have often complained that a growing number of stray dogs in parks and gardens has made it difficult for people and children to use them. There have been several cases of dog bites here in the past, they said.

"We fear sending our children to play outside. The parks near our home are full of stray dogs and we cannot allow children to go out without an adult accompanying them," Mr Baldev Chand, a resident of Sector 49 said. (PTI)