BHOPAL: Has the rabid animal whose single-day biting spree had led to the deaths of six people within 11 days, actually died in Barwani district of southwest Madhya Pradesh? If the state forest department is to be believed, then a jackal whose carcass was found in a dry well outside Limbai village on Thursday, is the same animal which bit 17 people within a few hours on May 5 in the same village – leading to the death of two women and four men between May 3 and June 2.
“We’ve been probing the serial bites since May 5, when the 17 villagers were bitten by the animal. The statements of eyewitnesses and victims indicate that it was jackal. The jackal whose carcass has been found in the dry well outside Limbai village, is the same one, particularly as its hind legs are tied. Further probe revealed that villagers, after the May 5 attack, spotted the jackal and killed it. But out of fear of getting penalised for killing a wild animal, they didn’t report about spotting and killing it,” DFO-Barwani Ashish Bansod said, adding, “Primary examination of the carcass suggests it’s around 25-30 days old, which matches the timing of the serial bites.”