News / International
Boy (6) filmed suckling milk from a stray dog
07 Jul 2012 at 09:13hrs | Views
A poverty-stricken six-year-old boy has been filmed suckling milk from a stray dog to suppress his hunger.
The shocking footage shows Chotu Kumar grabbing the animal's hind legs so he can drink from her teat.
"Our family is very poor, sometimes I get hungry," he said.
"The dog doesn't bite me. I like her and she likes me, she treats me like one of her puppies. I love to play with the dogs, they're my friends."
Chotu lives with his mother Shanichari Devi, 37, his grandmother Amiya Devi, 60, and his two brothers Bola, 14, and three-year-old Mahesh in a mud house in Jharkhand, Eastern India.
The family hadn't eaten solid foods or milk for days when, one morning, Shanichari spotted her son sitting on the floor drinking milk from the dog's teat.
She said: "While he was playing with the dogs outside the house I saw him drinking the bitch's milk.
"I was so shocked. I ran over and pulled him away. But ever since whenever he is hungry he has always slipped back. I have let him because I know how hungry he is.
"The dog has always been friendly with him and never attacks him. He often rides on her back and then he jumps off and sucks on her teat along with her pups.
"The bitch licks him while he feeds just like she does with her own pups."
The dog even sits outside the family's mud house and barks for the youngster to come out to play.
But when locals in the village found out about Chotu and his new friends they were angry and became worried that other children were at risk and that there would be a rabies outbreak.
"Villagers kept telling us he'd die of some disease if he carried on drinking it and it'd spread to the other children. But Chotu carried on," Shanichari added.
The shocking footage shows Chotu Kumar grabbing the animal's hind legs so he can drink from her teat.
"Our family is very poor, sometimes I get hungry," he said.
"The dog doesn't bite me. I like her and she likes me, she treats me like one of her puppies. I love to play with the dogs, they're my friends."
Chotu lives with his mother Shanichari Devi, 37, his grandmother Amiya Devi, 60, and his two brothers Bola, 14, and three-year-old Mahesh in a mud house in Jharkhand, Eastern India.
The family hadn't eaten solid foods or milk for days when, one morning, Shanichari spotted her son sitting on the floor drinking milk from the dog's teat.
She said: "While he was playing with the dogs outside the house I saw him drinking the bitch's milk.
"I was so shocked. I ran over and pulled him away. But ever since whenever he is hungry he has always slipped back. I have let him because I know how hungry he is.
"The dog has always been friendly with him and never attacks him. He often rides on her back and then he jumps off and sucks on her teat along with her pups.
"The bitch licks him while he feeds just like she does with her own pups."
The dog even sits outside the family's mud house and barks for the youngster to come out to play.
But when locals in the village found out about Chotu and his new friends they were angry and became worried that other children were at risk and that there would be a rabies outbreak.
"Villagers kept telling us he'd die of some disease if he carried on drinking it and it'd spread to the other children. But Chotu carried on," Shanichari added.
Source - online
