Bahraich: With the wolf attacks in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich leaving 10 people dead and as many as 34 injured, the state government has given the nod to shoot the man-eating wolf/wolves at sight.
Bahraich’s Mahasi tehsil has been struck by a series of attacks by man-eating wolves since March. Senior forest department officials, who reached Mahasi Tuesday, confirmed that they might go ahead with shooting down the wolf or wolves, if not caught within the next one-two days.
Four wolves have been caught so far, while two more may be on the loose, according to forest department officials. However, the officials are investigating if a single wolf is behind the attacks or more than one.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Monday chaired a high-level meeting via video conferencing with senior officials of 11 districts prone to human-animal conflict—Bahraich, Lakhimpur Kheri, Pilibhit, Shravasti, Moradabad, Hapur, Sitapur, Gonda, Meerut, Bijnor and Bareilly.
Highly-placed sources in the government said that the chief minister took stock of ‘Operation Bhediya’ launched to hunt down the man-eating wolf or wolves and curb the attacks. He instructed officials to “go ahead and shoot the animal at sight, if not caught.” The shooting would, however, be carried out only as a last resort, sources said.
The forest minister, chief secretary, director general of police, additional chief secretary (home), additional chief secretary (forest), additional director generals of all zones, divisional commissioners and district magistrate were in attendance at the meeting.
While Bahraich has witnessed a spate of wolf attacks on children and women, Lakhimpur Kheri and Bijnor have seen attacks by leopards.
In Sitapur too, villagers have alleged that children were attacked by wolves, but forest department officials have said that jackals and not wolves were possibly behind the attacks.
Also Read: Bahraich wolves preying on doorless village homes with no electricity. Children easy targets
Lone wolf behind attacks?
Chief Conservator of Forest (Gonda) A.P. Sinha, who is among the ten senior forest department officers sent to Mahasi to ensure that the two remaining wolves are caught, said that shoot-at-sight orders have been issued and they are “working in that direction”.
“We have previously tried to track and tranquilise them. We have also tracked them via drone cameras. We have applied all resources and caught four wolves, but such incidents are still occuring. So, shoot-at-sight orders have been issued,” he told ThePrint. “For this, we have divided the entire zone into three sectors and deployed two-three teams in each sector. Each team is completely equipped.”
Sinha said that the forest department is in the process of investigating if the attacks are the work of a single wolf, who has possibly been ostracised from his pack.
“We cannot dismiss the possibility of involvement of more than one wolf because they have been spotted in a group in camera surveillance. But the greater possibility is that this is one wolf who has been ostracised from his group. Lifting human children means that it is going against a wolf’s natural behaviour as humans are not part of its prey base,” he said.
Another reason why Sinha felt that the wolf may have been ostracised was that its area of influence is different from where the other four wolves were caught.
“It is moving within a five-kilometre stretch on the eastern side of Ghaghara river and its total area of influence is about 75 square kilometres. Its current movement is from south to north, he said. “Four wolves that were successfully tracked were caught from the south and sent to the zoo. It is possible that it has been ostracised from the pack and is moving towards the north because of that.”
He further said that the wolf or wolves attacked houses that didn’t have doors.
The forest department had also sent the samples of the faeces of the other four wolves for a DNA analysis to confirm if any of these had eaten parts of the dead bodies of humans.
Asked if the reports of the DNA analysis had been received, Sinha said,”All possibilities are being investigated, including physical and chemical analysis, to check whether they were a part of a group preying on children.”
The forest department has increased surveillance in the area of operation of the wolf or wolves. Officials have concluded that the man-eater changes its area of operation after a successful attack, but would attack in the same area again after an unsuccessful attempt.
“While there has been a gap of five-six days between two incidents, there has been a gap of 12 days and 15 days at times. Wherever the wolf remains unsuccessful, it goes for another attempt there for a second time,” Sinha explained. “It attacked two places on Monday and Tuesday in two different ways. It attacked a human on 2 September, but could not take the child. When it is successful, it moves elsewhere.”
Recalling the wolf attacks of 2004, he said that back then, there were two different packs of wolves active in Bahraich and Shravasti.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)