Just two minutes after the village was plunged into darkness due to a power outage, four-year-old Sandhya was snatched by a pack of wolves while she was sleeping in her home.
“They attacked the mud house as soon as the lights went out. Before we could figure out what was happening, they took her away,” Sunita, Sandhya’s mother, recalled the terrifying moment on the night of August 17.
Sandhya’s body was found in a sugarcane field about 500 metres from her home the following day.
Previously, a 7-year-old victim was also taken away by a wolf that broke into his house. “I tried my best to pull the wolf’s leg to save him but failed. The animal dragged the boy about 200 meters to a field. When I shouted, the villagers gathered to search for him and the wolf left the boy behind,” the victim’s mother said. The boy survived after 13 days of treatment.
In early August, in a neighboring village, eight-year-old Utkarsh was sleeping in bed when his mother spotted a wolf trying to enter the house. “The animal rushed out of the darkness. I shouted, ‘Leave my child alone.’ Neighbors rushed to his rescue and the wolf ran away,” the mother said.
Since mid-April, the pack has terrorized about 30 villages in the Bahraich region of Uttar Pradesh, India. They have kidnapped and killed nine children, a 45-year-old woman, and injured at least 34 people.
The series of attacks prompted state officials to launch a manhunt using drones equipped with thermal cameras, traps, and fireworks, as well as assigning men to patrol at night, install doors on homes, and raise awareness about the dangers of wolves. So far, officials have captured four wolves and transferred them to zoos.
The wolf was captured and caged in northern India after a manhunt. Photo: NDTV
According to experts, wolf attacks on humans are very rare, mostly involving individuals with rabies. But in Bahraich, flooding is considered the leading cause of wolves actively hunting humans.
Bahraich is home to 3.5 million people and is also a traditional habitat for the Indian wolf, which hunts antelope and hares. The area is also prone to seasonal flooding, as it lies in the Ghaghara River delta and is surrounded by dense forest.
Over time, heavy rains and floods have dramatically changed the landscape. Rising rivers have submerged much of the forest, possibly forcing wolves out to forage.
“Climate change is a gradual process, and flooding could disrupt wolf habitats, forcing them to seek out human settlements for prey,” explained Amita Kanaujia, an expert at the Institute of Wildlife Sciences at Lucknow University.
Observers also pointed out that families in Bahraich have very lax supervision of children and most of the victims come from poor households.
Soutik Biswas, commentator BBC In India, it is said that livestock are better protected than children in these poor villages. When hungry wolves struggle in depleted habitats and cannot access livestock, children become prime targets.
“The lack of toilets in rural India also plays a role, as people and children often defecate in fields, increasing the risk of wolf attacks,” said conservation expert Yadvendradev Vikramsinh Jhala.
Location of Bahraich region in Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. Graphics: BBC
Local communities in India have traditionally tolerated and coexisted peacefully with wolves for centuries, even though they may prey on livestock. But a recent surge in wolf attacks has raised new concerns.
The situation in Uttar Pradesh marks the fourth major wolf attack in India in the past four decades, the deadliest of which was in August 1996, when a pack of wolves terrorized more than 50 villages in Uttar Pradesh, killing 38 children.
Conservation expert Jhala and colleague Dinesh Kumar Sharma conducted a detailed investigation into the 1996 attack, examining autopsy reports, the nature of housing, population density, and livestock in the area.
The two experts found many similarities between the current wave of attacks and those in 1996. In both waves, most of the attacks occurred at night, in densely populated, impoverished villages near rivers, surrounded by rice fields, sugarcane fields, and swamps.
Jhala recommends that young children sleep and go to the toilet with adults at night, and that villages should appoint guards and night patrols. “Until we know the exact cause behind these wolf attacks, prevention is very important,” Jhala said.