In UP’s Bahraich, villagers cry wolf – only, the fear is real

But now, the wolves are back.

A search operation led by chief forest conservator in Bahraich. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

Bahraich Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ram Singh Yadav said a pack of four wolves has been attacking people. “Of the four, an adult male was shot dead by our team recently, while the remaining three — two sub-adults and an adult female — are on the run. Efforts are underway to capture them,” he said.

Forest officials say the recent rise in wolf activity could be due to increasing water levels in the Ghaghra river. The floods, they say, may have forced wolves and jackals, which live in dens on the riverbank, to move into human settlements.

The attacks began on September 9, when a child was killed in Paragpurwa village. The latest attack was on the night of September 29, when an elderly couple, Khedan and his wife Mankiya, both in their 60s, were killed, prompting the residents of all six villages to “take matters in our hands”, as Deep Narayan Yadav, pardhan of Manjhla Taukli, one of the worst affected villages, says.

Residents sit atop a machan to protect themselves from wolves at Manjhara Taukli village of Bahraich in UP. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

Residents of the six affected villages have organised themselves into shifts to guard the village round the clock. At several key junctions, groups of villagers can be seen keeping vigil, armed with sticks and sharp-edged weapons. Villagers have also installed lights and loudspeakers and occasionally set off firecrackers to scare the wolves away.

Most children have stopped going to school, and adults now venture into the fields only in groups, armed with sticks, axes and the occasional rifles. Kaiserganj Block Education Officer Rakesh Kumar admitted that attendance in schools in the block has dropped considerably.

But it’s at night that the fears heighten.

So every night after dinner, 67-year-old Brij Lal, his wife Sita Kumari, 62, and their son, daughter-in-law and their children climb up to the two machans that they have raised outside their bamboo hut in Manjhla Taukli.

Abdul Gani

“Our house is without a door, so we can’t risk sleeping inside. My wife and I sleep on one machan and my son and his family sleep on the other,” says Brij Lal.

Most houses in the six villages are, like Brij Lal’s, without doors and villagers routinely sleep in the open. But now, most homes have machans built outside, some with an empty tin attached that its occupants can beat to alert others in case a wolf is spotted.

“We hear of one or two attacks on humans almost every day. These incidents have left villagers constantly fearful and on high alert. Not only humans, animals are also being attacked. Villagers have to protect themselves as well as their pets,” says MLA Anand Kumar Yadav, who won the Kaiserganj Assembly seat on a Samajwadi Party ticket.

After the elderly couple were killed on September 29, villagers sat on protests and pelted stones at the vehicles of forest officials who turned up at the spot.

Children have stopped attending school at Manjhara Taukli village of Bahraich in UP. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

During his visit to Bahraich on September 27, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had surveyed the affected areas and directed the Forest Department to capture the wolves involved in the recent attacks. He had further instructed that if necessary, shooters should be deployed to kill the animal to ensure public safety.

A day later, forest officials recovered the carcass of an adult male wolf from a sugarcane field in Manjhla Taukli village.

A deserted Manjhara Taukli village

DFO Ram Singh Yadav said that while their prime objective is to capture the predators alive, a team of 12 shooters from the forest and police departments has been deployed in the affected areas.

The forest department has also set up cages and deployed thermal drones, camera traps, and other monitoring equipment to track the animals. To improve security at night, 1,437 LED streetlights, 660 regular streetlights, and 91 solar lights have been installed across the area.