Rabid jackal whose bites killed six in MP dead, claims forest dept; villagers not convinced, say it's a hyena

Not ready to buy the forest department claim, residents are maintaining a vigil, patrolling in the village and neighbouring areas in the nocturnal hours.
Image used for representational purposes
Image used for representational purposesExpress illustrations
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BHOPAL: Has the rabid animal that bit 17 people in a single day, leading to the deaths of six, died in Barwani district of southwestern Madhya Pradesh?

If the state forest department is to be believed, a jackal whose carcass was found in a dry well outside Limbai village on Thursday is the same animal whose bites on May 5 caused the deaths of two women and four men later.

“We’ve been probing the serial bites right since May 5, when the 17 villagers were bitten by the animal in Limbai. The statements of those who either saw the animal or were the victims of its attack, 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 penalized as per law for killing a wild animal, they didn’t report it,” DFO-Barwani Ashish Bansod said.

“The 17 people were bitten by the animal between 4 am and 5 am on May 5, but since then there haven’t been any such incidents. The primary examination of the jackal’s carcass suggests that it’s around 25-30 days old, which matches with the timing of the serial bites. Still our vets are taking samples from the carcass’s jaw to establish whether it was the same rabies-infected animal or not. As a precautionary measure, the patrolling by our staff in and around the village will continue and we’ve also kept the cages still in place to rule out whether more such animals are there or not,” Bansod added.

The residents of Limbai village, however, differ with the DFO’s claim.

“It’s not the same animal which bit 17 people, most of them in their sleep. What we’ve been told by the victims and others who saw that animal on May 5 is that it wasn’t a jackal, but instead a hyena. There are still hyenas being sighted in Limbai and neighbouring villages. Until the report of the samples taken from the dead jackal is out, we won’t buy the claim made by the forest department,” the village sarpanch’s representative Rakesh Jarmade said.

Another Limbai village resident Parasram Khanna concurred with Rakesh. “It’s not the same animal as that animal was certainly a hyena. The forest department personnel are trying to declare the carcass as that of the attacker animal, just to rid themselves of the onerous task of tracking and capturing the rabid animal, which is a hyena.”

Not ready to buy the forest department claim, residents are maintaining a vigil, patrolling in the village and neighbouring areas in the nocturnal hours.

Back on May 5, a mysterious rabid animal had bitten 17 villagers sleeping outside their house or busy in early morning chores between 4 am and 5 am in Limbai village in Rajpur block of Barwani district. The villagers bitten by the animal were administered the required anti-rabies vaccines as per the necessary medical protocols, but six of them died in 11 days (between May 23 and June 2).

With the villagers having died even after being administered the anti-rabies vaccine, the Barwani district collector Guncha Sanobar ordered that the samples of anti-rabies vaccines be sent for efficacy testing to the designated national drug testing lab in Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh).

The administration has already announced compensation of Rs 8 lakh each to the six bereaved families.

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