In Hardi region of Bahraich fear has a face, menacing eyes and a howling noise. This region that has Ghaghara river on one side and Katarnighat forest on the other has been a wolf habitat for a long time but only in the last few months the wolves have started targeting human settlements. The latest incidence is of September 2 when it killed a 3 year old girl and injured 2 others.
Homes that were always open now have doors, as people try desperately to keep out the dangerous wolves. The first attack took place on March 6 when wolves injured two children, 15 year old Nankai Manohar and six year old Rahul Dev, in Aurahi village. People first thought that leopard had attacked them as leopard attack is common in this area, but pug mark and the nature of injury suggested that it was done by wolves.
The next wolf attack took place on March 24 when one year old Chhotu Ahmad was killed in Nayapurwa village. On July 17 one year old boy Akhtar Raza was killed in Makkapurwa village and it got worse in August when the wolf attack caused five deaths.
Ajeet Singh the divisional forest officer of Bahraich has confirmed that it was pack of six wolves that have been spotted so far of which four have been captured and shifted to Gorakhpur Zoo. According to experts these wolves are hybrid wolves crossbred with domestic dogs and it is a possibility that they have lost their natural fear of humans. Then the question arises: why are wolves that have lost their natural fear of humans and become man-eaters kept in zoos and not put to sleep? Or, in simple terms, why aren’t they just killed?”
We have all heard the story of the legendary Jim Corbett through the book Man-Eaters of Kumaon, where Corbett killed man-eating tigers and leopards to protect local communities of Uttarakhand. It may be argued that Jim Corbett operated in early 20th century when animal conservation and animal rights were non-existent or very lax but in 2018 a tigress named Avni (officially known as T-1) was killed in Maharashtra. Avni was believed to have killed at least 13 people in the region, leading to a hunt to protect the local population. She was eventually shot by hunters after extensive efforts to track her down. When Tiger despite being the national animal could be killed to protect to save people then why wolves are not being melted out the same treatment.
The wolves that are in captivity will be a danger for other animals and zoo staff, so it would be better to kill them rather than risk them posing a threat to people in the future.”
