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Wolf attacks in UP: PAC personnel to also guard hamlets, says forest minister

BySHARIQ RAIS SIDDIQUI, Bahraich
Aug 29, 2024 08:14 AM IST

Mahsi tehsil , at least nine people, mostly children, were killed and many others were injured in wolf attacks since March.

Forest and environment minister Arun Kumar Saxena said Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel were being deployed in villages of Mahsi tehsil where at least nine people, mostly children, were killed and many others were injured in wolf attacks since March.

UP minister Arun Kumar Saxena visiting the affected areas. (HT)
UP minister Arun Kumar Saxena visiting the affected areas. (HT)

On the directives of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Saxena visited the affected villages in Bahraich district on Wednesday and held discussions with public representatives and officials there.

During his visit, he reassured residents that the forest department was working tirelessly to capture the man-eater wolves and ensure their safety.

Saxena also went to the Kolaila hamlet of Sisaiya Churamani village and met with the family members of an eight-year-old boy who was killed in a wolf attack on August 3. He appealed to people residing in the affected areas to be vigilant while working in the fields. Besides, he asked them not to go for open defecation and not to sleep in open spaces.

The minister instructed forest officials to chalk out a foolproof plan to trap the man-eater wolves. He said proper light arrangements were being made, and toilets and safety gates were being provided to people. He said sufficient police personnel had been deployed and forest teams were working round-the-clock in cooperation with local staff to keep the predators at bay. Moreover, PAC has been called to ensure the safety of people in the area, the minister added.

It may be noted that a pack of wolves is believed to have killed nine people, eight of whom were children up to eight years of age, since March this year. Even after several teams of forest department were engaged to monitor the villages with the help of CCTVs and thermal and drone cameras, wolf attacks had not abated. The Mahsi tehsil has reported seven casualties in the last 40 days alone. Besides, more than four dozen people were injured in areas under the Hardi and Khairighat police station limits.

Meanwhile, the department was able to capture three wolves believed to be of the pack.

Attacks taking place in 3-10 km radius

Bahraich divisional forest officer (DFO) Ajit Pratap Singh said the attacks were taking place in a radius of three to 10 kilometers. About fifty villages were in living the grip of wolf menace, he said. “We are working on drone mapping and trying to limit the movement of the wolves. After finding their exact location, we will restrict their movement and then cages would be installed in the area,” he added.

A former DFO of Katarnighat Gyan Prakash Singh said the escalated wolf attacks could also be due to the mistakes made in the past.

Singh, who’s now an executive consultant at Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), said last year two wolves were captured from the Mahsi Tehsil area and later released in the Chakiya forest range of Bahraich. “So it might be possible that somehow they have returned and were attacking people in the area.” The Bahraich DFO confirmed that two wolves were released in the Chakia range last year.

‘Use trapping nets instead’

Gyan Prakash was of the opinion that officials should use trapping nets instead of cages. Singh reiterated that unlike tigers and leopards, wolves were not susceptible to being drawn to a bait of goats. Hence, installing cages would make the operation more complicated.

He recalled that the terror of wolves was at its peak when 76 children were killed in a span of 4-5 months near Peeli Nadi riverbed area of Jaunpur and its adjacent areas. It was learnt during investigation that the wolves never attacked the same village from where they had already lifted a child. Besides, they move quietly within a radius of about 2 to 10 kilometres in search of new hunting areas.

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