As the wolves of Bahraich evade drones, nets and cages, 35 UP villages live in terror

A police barricade at Sisayya village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district on August 31. (Express photo by Manish Sahu)

Over the past two months, a pack of six wolves had been targeting people, mostly children, in 35 villages of Mahasi tehsil in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district after sunset. Besides Anjali, the wolves have attacked three adults in the last 24 hours, say forest officials. They added that the animals grab the children by the mouth as they carry them away.

Between July 17 and September 2 (Monday), the wolves have killed eight persons — including seven children under the age of eight years — and injured 18 others. The first fatality — a one-month-old boy — was reported on July 17 in Sikandarpur village. The state has announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased.

Since the attacks began, the forest department launched ‘Operation Bhediya (Wolf)’ to capture the animals. Manoj Sonkar, Conservator of Forests, Devipatan division, told The Indian Express on the phone, “About 1.5 months ago, our thermal cameras and drones detected six wolves in the affected areas. We also found their pug marks.”

Though the initiative resulted in the capture of four wolves — two males and two females — between August 3 and August 29, two wolves continue to evade the officials.

Early on August 31, the two wolves were spotted by drones near Kolaila and Sisayya villages. Teams were quickly dispatched to the spot and the area cordoned off by the police. According to Additional Principal Chief Forest Conservator Renu Singh, who has been in Bahraich for nearly a week, multiple teams from both the range and divisional levels have been deployed to capture the two wolves.

Groups of armed men have started patrolling affected villages at night since the past two weeks. (Express photo by Manish Sahu)

Over the past few days, forest officials have reported sightings of the two wolves in a 5-km radius. Twenty-five forest teams, each comprising a ranger, forester, guard and watcher, have been deployed across the affected villages. Additionally, three divisional forest officers from neighbouring districts, along with range and sub-divisional forest officers, are monitoring the animals’ movements. Nets and cages — designed to resemble a sitting or sleeping child — have been “strategically” placed, based on information obtained from the four drones equipped with thermal cameras that are currently tracking the wolves. To attract them, officials are using goats and life-size dolls dressed in colourful attire as bait.

On rounds in a forest department jeep to check preparations at Sisayya village around 3 pm, Bahraich Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ajeet Kumar Singh says one of the four captured wolves had died “due to a heart attack caused by stress”.

As the jeep enters the restricted area, the DFO says two of the captured wolves have been sent to Lucknow zoo and the third to Gorakhpur zoo. Instructing the vehicle to stop at a secluded spot, just past a barricade, DFO Singh starts walking towards a sugarcane field to speak to his colleagues stationed there.

Upon his return a few minutes later, he remarks, “All preparations are in place to capture the animals, but it seems the wolves have not been spotted here again. Not even by our drones.”

Sidhu Kumar of Sisai Churamani village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district lost his seven-year-old son in a wolf attack on August 4. (Express photo by Manish Sahu)

He adds that a forester armed with a tranquiliser gun has been stationed nearby in case the wolves are sighted.

To a question on why Mahasi tehsil, located about 80 km from the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary and 55 km from Saryu river, is witnessing these attacks, Conservator of Forests Sonkar says, “I think these wolves originally lived near a river that gave them access to prey and water. I think they moved closer to human settlements after their natural habitat got flooded. Scarcity of natural prey is driving them to attack humans and they seem to have developed a taste for human flesh.”

In a statement on Monday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed that efforts be made to “control and capture man-eating wolves at all costs”. Emphasising the need for awareness, he instructed the administration to spread awareness by putting up hoardings at religious places, schools, markets and government buildings.

Minister of State for Forest and Environment (Independent Charge) Arun Kumar has been directed to deploy additional foresters in Bahraich, Sitapur, Lakhimpur, Pilibhit, Bijnor and other districts to increase joint patrolling and manage crowds in case the wolves are captured. The minister has advised the residents to avoid sleeping outside, keep children indoors and ensure that their doors are securely locked at night. He has also recommended travelling in groups and carrying sticks for protection till the remaining wolves are captured. Locals say the administration has installed doors in houses that were missing the same.

Despite these measures, the terror associated with these animals in the belt has surpassed the fear invoked even by tigers and leopards. After the first attack on July 17 in Sikandarpur village, the wolves struck 10 days later, on July 27. They attacked a two-year-old girl sleeping outside the house with her mother in Nakwa village. The girl’s mutilated body was found in a nearby sugarcane field about two hours later.

Late on August 4, a wolf entered a house in Sisai Churamani village and grabbed a sleeping seven-year-old boy. The boy’s body too was found in a nearby sugarcane field. On August 26, wolves took away a five-year-old boy sleeping next to his mother in Raipur village.

Rakesh Kumar of Nakwa village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district lost his two-year-old daughter in a wolf attack on July 27. (Express photo by Manish Sahu)

Late on August 31, eight-year-old Paras and Kunnu Lal, 55, were attacked by wolves. According to the boy’s mother, they released her son as soon as she raised an alarm. Both Paras and Kunnu have sustained injuries, and are undergoing treatment.

On Monday, Kamla Devi, 58, sustained injuries on the neck after she was attacked by a wolf inside her unlocked house in Barabigha village. She says the animal fled as soon as raised an alarm.

Despite regular visits by government officials, terrified locals have taken to locking their children inside their houses while they work in their fields. To ensure their little ones do not wander outside at night, the women have started tying their saree’s pallus to their children’s limbs. The residents have also started returning home before sunset and staying indoors all night.

Armed with iron rods, sticks and torches, men in groups of 10 have been patrolling the villages at night for the past two weeks, says Shobha Ram, the husband of Nakwa village pradhan Kudiya Devi.

Sharda Devi, 70, who lives in Gauri village, says the women and children have started staying indoors all night and opening the door only when the men return in the morning.

To keep the wolves out, locals have installed lights and loudspeakers at various locations in the village. Firecrackers too have been used occasionally to keep the animals away.

The attacks led to a temporary dip in attendance at the local school. “The attendance has improved now that four wolves have been captured,” says Sunil Kumar, a teacher at the government primary school in Baggar village.

Camping in the affected villages, Mahasi BJP MLA Sureshwar Singh says, “The wolves have affected around 70,000 people in a 20-km radius.”

Calling two of the eight deaths “suspicious” — since the animals did not “consume the victims’ flesh” — forest officials said investigations are on to ascertain the causes of these two deaths.