KENDRAPARA: A 62-year-old woman from Baripali village in Kendrapara district succumbed to injuries sustained in a jackal attack on Monday. The victim, Minati Mahapatra died while under treatment at SCB medical college and hospital in Cuttack on Wednesday.
Around 25 residents of Baripali, Mangarajpur, Batira, Nachipada, Madhusudanpur and other villages in Marsaghai block are currently receiving treatment at hospitals in Marsaghai and Kendrapara after being bitten by jackals within the last one week.
The rabid animals have spread fear among the riverside villages, with 10 children among those attacked. Many domesticated animals have also been affected.
Satrughan Mallick of Batira village said jackals attacked six villagers in Mangarajpur alone on Tuesday. Though panic-stricken, the villagers expressed their anger and said they would eliminate the jackals.
Chabi Behera of Batira village, who was also attacked by a jackal on Monday, said, “The problem of rabid jackals and their attacks on villagers was raised recently, but no action was taken by the authorities. People are so terrified that in some villages, they go to the fields in groups, armed with sticks and weapons.”
Fear has gripped the children, who are afraid to attend school.
Dhaneswar Mallick of Mangarajpur said due to the absence of effective measures from officials to address the jackal menace, no solution has come so far. Villagers are also frustrated by the alleged lack of rabies vaccines in local primary health centres, forcing them to purchase the vaccines at high prices from the open market.
Enraged with the growing number of attacks, Sarat Behera of Batira stated, “Around 10 youths from our village are patrolling with sticks to kill the jackals.” The forest range officer of Kendrapara, Rajendra Kumar Samantray, stated that a cow died of snakebite in Baripali village last week, and villagers dumped the carcass near the river. “It is suspected that many jackals became rabid after consuming the rotten flesh of the cow. A cage was installed on Wednesday in one of the affected villages to catch the rogue jackals,” he added.
B Beg, the ADMO of Kendrapara, assured that sufficient rabies vaccines and injections have been stocked in all community health centres.