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From fringes to courtyards, wolves take centre stage for third time in nearly three decades
Around, 1996, they attacked children in Pratapgarh and struck again in Balrampur in 2003. Now, they have unleashed terror in Bahraich.
For years, wolves have been co-existing with humans on the fringes. Unlike tigers or leopards, they have hardly been in the spotlight for their killer instinct in Uttar Pradesh. But the mid-1990s, 2003 and 2024 have been an exception to this trend.
Around, 1996, they attacked children in Pratapgarh and struck again in Balrampur in 2003. Now, they have unleashed terror in Bahraich.
Forest staff have caught four of the six wolves in the pack responsible for killing 10 villagers, including nine children since March. For the past five days, forest staff and the two elusive wolves have been involved in a cat and mouse chase.
Experts said wolves are part of the eco-system, adding that they are not enemies of mankind but need to be kept at a distance and lack of this has made children vulnerable.
In Uttar Pradesh, there are less than 100 wolves. The pan India numbers are less than 3000. The highest concentration of wolves is found in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh.
Wolves are listed as Schedule 1 species in India’s Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, which gives them the highest level of protection.
“The situation has turned tricky after successfully catching four wolves. The two remaining wolves must be the leader(s), male and female, who have managed to escape after their youngsters got caught. But this does not mean a reduced risk for the children in villages,” said Bilal Habib, scientist with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun.
The area is vulnerable for children as prey. Owing to poverty, the houses here are incomplete. Some don’t even have doors and people are compelled to sleep outdoors. All this makes it possible for wolves to attack children.
“Unless you catch the remaining two, the fact whether there are more or just six killing children will come to fore,” said Habib, who did his Ph.D on the ecology of the Indian wolf and has been studying their behaviour for 20 years.
He suggested a two-way strategy where keeping children safe is the priority. The children, he said, should be brought to a common place after 5pm.
He suggested keeping children safe with proper security and lighting.
He felt kids should be made to sleep at one place in the village under security while allowing the wolves to take away the bait (mutton) under camera vigil.
“Wolves will sleep for the entire day and attack when we sleep. This is because they monitor the activity in the village, observe lights, and noise coming from the villages. Hence, this kind of strategy will now work better,” Habib said.
“Wolves live in a 250 sq km area and many villages come in the vicinity. It is possible they repeat an attack in one village after a gap of weeks. Wolve shave a distensible stomach and hence can eat up to 8 kg and then can give a break of up to seven days. If those with cubs are out and hungry, then they are more dangerous,” said Habib.
“Wolves are fast learners. Hence, when rescue operations have extended for over a week now, the remaining elusive wolves might have learned to sense danger in the shape of increased human activity, drones and cages, which they would avoid going towards,” said the expert.
The idea, Habib said, should be to divert the attention of the wolves from children to other bait, allow them to eat a few meals to be confident enough to come again and again at the same spot until caught.
“There are two options. Since two individuals are there, then the food requirement goes down. So, they attack, eat a little and go back. So the possibility of attack goes up. We need to think of deviating the remaining two. We need to give bait and allow them to eat and distract them from children. Once they start frequenting (the place), trapping them will become easy,” he said.
Rupak De, former head of forest force, said, “One option is to make a howling noise with the help of speakers, which may be replicated and help identify the exact spot (where) the killer wolves are located.”
Wolves watch activity and lights in a village and do a recce of several villages before they finally chose to attack one.
“Never think four of the pack caught means less attack. The leader might be attacking and still at large, planning the next move/prey. The best decision is taken by those on the field,” said experts.
