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UP's Bahraich villagers battle wolves with firecrackers, lights as forest dept traps 4
Forest department and local police have teamed up for the initiative, which has been planned to deter wolves using loud noises and bright lights.
In Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich, villagers have been stocking up on lights and firecrackers for weeks to keep wolves away at night. With constant howling from nearby forests disrupting their sleep, they burst crackers to protect themselves.
The forest department and local police have teamed up for the initiative, which has been planned to deter wolves using loud noises and bright lights, The Times of India reported.
Firecrackers are being burst every hour in multiple villages to safeguard the residents, the report quoted divisional forest officer Ajeet Pratap Singh as saying.
Forest officials have trapped four of the six wolves linked with the killings, including seven children, but two wolves have managed to dodge all the traps laid for them.
They said awareness being a key factor in the hunt against the killer wolves, public awareness programmes will be continued for at least up to two months, until it was ensured that the area had been freed of wolves.
The encounter of Bahraich with the wolves is not usual and as a result the state machinery and different stakeholders have got involved in relief and capture operations. The forest department is also using drones to spot the wolves in the area.
Lions and leopards do not have a tendency to take revenge, but wolves do. If the habitat of wolves is disturbed or a bid is made to capture/kill or domesticate its cub, they retaliate by hunting down humans, said the forest officer.
How Bahraich villagers stay alert against wolves?
Blaring loudspeakers asking villagers to be awake in the 50-odd villages close to Ghaghra river in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district following the killing of nine people, mostly children, in the past 40 days. The forest department has confirmed that seven deaths were caused by a wild animal.
According to a paper published by Wildlife Institute scientists including Jhala in March 2002, after examining 34 million pictures of wild animals, India has an estimated 2,812 wolves, the majority of which are found in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
