Dehradun: After a fresh attack by wolves in Nauvan Garethi village of Mahsi Tehsil claimed the life of a three-year-old girl and injured three people, a special team from Uttarakhand including experts and scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) here is being sent to Uttar Pradesh to curb the canine menace.
Dr Bilal Habib, a scientist at the WII said that plans to dispatch a team of scientists expert in studying the movement of hunters are underway. "I am in constant touch with the UP administration and monitoring the attacks there," he said.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday instructed officials to intensify patrolling and deploy additional manpower in districts sensitive to human-wildlife conflict, amid a rise in loss of human lives in animal attacks in parts of the state. He also instructed that a separate action plan for relief and rescue operations be developed.
With the latest death, these carnivores have killed 10 people and injured 51 in the district since March. Officials from the forest department said that the wolves have been prowling the Mahasi and Hardi villages of Bahraich since March. "We have captured four wolves last week. Only two more remain to be caged," an official said.
#WATCH | Bahraich, UP: On wolf attacks, ADG Zone Gorakhpur Dr KS Pratap Kumar says, " under a specialised strategy, the forest department is implementing a program in which the police department would also cooperate. the whole area has been divided into 7 teams. every gram… pic.twitter.com/WMDctUWnLg
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) September 2, 2024
Divisional forest officer Ajit Pratap Singh said several experts were on duty 24*7 to catch the wild animals. "We have asked the villagers to stay indoors at night and lock their doors before bed,” the official repeated.
Bahraich District Magistrate (DM), Monika Rani said that the forest department officials were having trouble catching the wolves on the prowl as they were consistently 'changing their habitat'.
What happened on Monday? Three-year-old Anjali who was sleeping beside her mother was taken away by a wolf in the wee hours of Monday. "I found out about the incident when my six-month-old younger daughter got up in the middle of the night and I found my elder daughter missing. Both the hands of my child were bitten by the wolf.
We work as labourers all day and raise the children. We ran after the wolf but it escaped. We are poor so we are not able to get doors installed in the house," the mother said.
Locals alleged negligence on the part of the forest department officials and said that they arrived 1.5 hours late. "They did not ensure the safety of the villagers. Time and again, we have shown them the footprints of the animal. Yet, they fail to take solid action," a villager said.
Villagers were coping with the fresh attack when, within just three hours, the wolf struck again just two Km away in Kotia village. It attacked another woman Kamla Devi (70) sleeping on her veranda, who is currently in a critical state. Again, within 30 minutes, another woman Suman Devi (65) was injured by the wolf in the Kotia area.
"The biggest problem in this drive is that every time a new village is being selected. The Wolf changes his activity every 5-6 days," said Bahraich DM Rani.
Precautionary Measures: Officials from the forest department have deployed six cameras and drones to enhance surveillance and catch the wolf. As many as 150 personnel from the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) are on duty, patrolling the area.
Also, 32 teams from the revenue department and 25 teams from the forest department are actively working on the ground to curb this menace.
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