Gambia: Lethal injection for dog that bit Barrow's son to death

A dog that killed a young son of the Gambian president Adama Barrow has undergone a fatal injection, according to the veterinary unit of the country’s Ministry of Agriculture.

7-year-old Habibou Barrow was bitten by the dog on January 15, he was reported dead whiles being transported to the hospital. The president’s team confirmed that he had died as a result of dog bites, without explaining the circumstances of the tragedy.

“On Tuesday we administered an injection to the dog to “put him to sleep”, the anonymous Ministry official told AFP, in reference to an operation of euthanasia.

“We concluded that it was not prudent to let this dog continue to wander the streets,” the source said, adding that tests indicated that it was not affected by rabies.

“We carried out tests which showed that he was not infected with rabies,” he added.

Gambia's President-elect Barrow's 8-year-old son dies after dog bite https://t.co/M2GGr1QfKF

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The death of young Barrow occured whiles his father, then President-elect was in neighboring Senegal awaiting his investiture on January 19 this year. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) flew Barrow out of the Gambia at a time that his predecessor Yahya Jammeh refused to cede power amid high political tension.

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The Gambia just recently came out of a political crisis caused by the reversal of Yahya Jammeh, who announced on 9 December to challenge the victory of opponent Adama Barrow in the presidential election on December 1, a week after recognizing him.

Barrow was sworn in on 19 January at the Embassy of Gambia in Dakar. Soon after, ECOWAS launched a military operation to initially force Mr. Jammeh, who eventually left the country on January 21 for an exile in Equatorial Guinea.

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