Bahraich: A three-year-old girl was killed, while three other people were injured in separate wolf attacks in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich, authorities said on Monday. The canine terror continues in Bahraich even as officials have caught four wolves under 'Operation Bhediya'. The death toll due to wolf attacks in the region has touched 10, including nine children. The latest attacks took place despite officials from the forest department patrolling the area.
A three-year-old girl was taken by would in Bahraich's Thalia village in the early hours of Monday. According to the deceased girl's mother, the wolf took away the toddler while she was sleeping with her family. "My child was sleeping, the wolf carried her away at around 3 am...There is no door in the house...When my 6-month-old child cried then I came to know that the wolf had carried away my 3-year-old daughter," she was quoted as saying by News agency ANI.
As per the report, her neighbour said that they had spotted the wolf many times, but whenever they called the forest department, they asked for video proof.
"We were awake. When he (the wolf) first came to our house, we thought it was a dog, so we shouted and chased it away. Afterwards, I saw that it ran towards the field, so I shouted and asked if anyone's child was missing. Then they said that their daughter was missing. We surrounded it in the field the day before yesterday and when we called the forest department, they asked us for the video. Where do we get the video from? We are repeatedly complaining that we have seen the wolf. By the time we take out the mobile, it disappears," the neighbour told ANI.
10 Killed In Wolf Attacks
According to the Mahasi Community Health Center (CHC) in charge, a 7-year-old boy and two other women were also injured in a wolf attack late last night. Currently, at least 35 villages in Bahraich are on high alert after a pack of wolves 10 people in the past one-and-a-half months. So far, the forest department has managed to capture four wolves under 'Operation Bhediya', and is on the lookout for two others.
Locals in Thalia village claimed that they had shown the footprints of the animal, but the administration is not taking any action. "They are saying that we are watching through drones. We have made a video but the administration is just sitting," a local said.
Efforts On To Catch Wolves
Bahraich District Magistrate (DM), Monika Rani said that the authorities were having trouble catching the wolf as it was consistently changing its habitat. "The biggest problem in this campaign is that every time a new village is being selected. The Wolf changes his activity every 5-6 days. The Forest Department is trying its best," she said.
Forest department officials are using elephant dung and urine to drive away the wolves from human settlement. In a bid to catch wolves, the forest department is also using colourful teddy dolls soaked in children's urine as bait to capture them. The department has also formed several teams to patrol the areas in the night.
"The wolves are constantly changing their locations. Typically, they hunt at night and return to their dens by morning. Our strategy is to mislead them and lure them away from residential areas towards traps or cages placed near their dens," Divisional Forest Officer Ajit Pratap Singh told PTI.
"We are tracking them using thermal drones and then attempting to drive them towards deserted areas near the traps by setting off firecrackers and making noise. Since these animals have primarily been targeting children, we have introduced large teddy dolls dressed in colourful clothes, soaked in children's urine, to create a false sense of human presence near the traps. The natural human scent may attract the wolves closer to the traps," the officer added.
Over the past few months, the Bahraich region has been plagued by a series of attacks by man-eating wolves targeting children and villagers.
UP Govt's Advisory
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath released an advisory following the wolf attacks. "Required steps should be taken to catch the wolves at all costs. As per the instructions given earlier, the administration, police, forest department, local panchayat, and revenue department should create widespread public awareness in the area," he said in the advisory.
"People should also be told about safety measures. The cooperation of public representatives should also be taken in this," CM added. The forest minister has also been directed to ensure that additional personnel from the forest department are deployed in Bahraich, Sitapur, Lakhimpur, Pilibhit, Bijnor and other district. The advisory further that the forest department should make arrangements for providing Petromax lights in villages which have electricity issues.