NEW DELHI: A pack of Wolves killed seven people, including six children and injured 26 people in 30 villages of Mahasi block at Indo-Nepal border district Bahraich of Uttar Pradesh. The forest department has deployed a team of nine to nab the pack.
Frequent attacks by wolves have created panic among villagers who are having sleepless nights for over a month in the region. They are guarding themselves in different night shifts.
So far three wolves have been nabbed and sent to Lucknow Zoo by the forest officials. The Forest Department has been tracking the packs with different technologies including thermal drones.
“Death of an adult woman is under suspicion, while the deaths of six children are confirmed due to wolf attack,” said an investigating officer to the TNIE.
Divisional Forest Officer of Bahraich district, Ajeet Pratap Singh, said the first incident of a wolf attack and related casualty was reported on 17 July.
“Our officers are trying hard to intercept and catch the pack of wolves with the help of thermal drones, we are installing six cameras and placing four traps in an area where the pack is active, such as along travel corridors,” said Singh.
Forest officials' assessment shows the pack consists of 5-6 wolves, which are only attacking humans.
Wolves are returning to this region after 20 years. In 2004, around 32 children were killed in different attacks by wolves. There were reports of wolf attacks in 2020, too.
The forest department also advised kids not to sleep in the open as families prefer to sleep in the open to avoid heat and humidity. Long-hour power cuts in villages provide wolves an opportunity to attack humans or steal sleeping kids.
Living in open scrubland, the pack of wolves prefer to roam in groups and they feed on smaller animals such as ground birds, hare/rabbits, small boars, and pangolins. Sometimes it also preys upon smaller livestock such as poultry and goats. However, attacks on ferals are rare. Experts are also clueless about changes in behaviours.
“They are shy animals, they do not encounter with human beings,” said Singh.
“There is a possibility that their habitat shrunk due to flood in Ghaghra river” he further said. The pack lives in burrows near a river which got filled by flood.
Local MLA Sureshwar Prasad has been conducting meetings with Divisional Forest Officers and community leaders to prevent such conflict. Prasad has also guarded one village with a gun in the night.