Two human casualties, in quick succession, in unidentified carnivore attacks in Shardanagar forest range of south Kheri forest division, have put the forest department authorities on high alert.
On Thursday, a 14-year-old boy, Jalis, of Khaiya village, under the Phoolbehar police limits, was attacked near the village. The village falls under the Shardanagar forest range. Jalis was rushed to district hospital in a critical condition, where he succumbed to his injuries.
According to forest department authorities, earlier a seven-year-old girl, Rimjhim, of Mukundapur village, under the Lakhimpur kotwali limits, had been killed in the same forest range, near Majhra Gaurhi. The child had gone to the fields along with her grandmother.
In both cases, authorities failed to identify the carnivore, whose pugmarks could not be gathered due to the ground being too wet.
Concerned over the growing human-animal conflict, divisional forest officer (DFO), south Kheri, Sanjay Biswal, deputed four patrolling teams to comb the area to identify and trap the errant wild animal.
He said a cage had been set up near Khaiya village, where the latest attack on a 14-year-old boy took place.
Four sets of night vision-enabled cameras had been installed at both spots to trace the animal.
Biswal said the patrolling teams would attempt to gather pugmarks near human settlements, unmetalled roads along the fields and fields, adding that experts had also been called in to trace, track and trap the errant animal.
{{/usCountry}}Biswal said the patrolling teams would attempt to gather pugmarks near human settlements, unmetalled roads along the fields and fields, adding that experts had also been called in to trace, track and trap the errant animal.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Biswal issued an advisory to local residents in which he asked them not to allow children to move alone along the fields or village routes.
He also advised them to work in groups in the fields while making sounds and staying alert.
He said the villagers must avoid surrounding the carnivore, if traced, but to give it space to avoid any untoward incident.