The wolves that have been sowing terror in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich struck again on Monday, by attacking a five-year-old girl. Though the animal tried to snatch the child, her parent's timely intervention saved her life.
This comes as 'Operation Bhediya', launched to capture a pack of wolves on the prowl that has so far killed seven people, continues. While the forest department has caught four of the animals from the Bahraich area, with the latest one set to be relocated to Gorakhpur Zoo, two others continue to roam the place.
The latest incident reported on Monday night saw the animal injuring the five-year-old girl, who has been sent to the Community Health Centre in Mahsi for treatment. The girl's relative Wasi Ahmad told reporters: "After dinner, she went to sleep, along with my mother. The wolf pounced on her while we were asleep. We woke up and screamed, and the animal ran away," Ahmad said, adding that the house had no gates or doors.
#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh | A fiver-year-old girl injured as wolf attack incidents continue in UP's Bahraich.
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) September 3, 2024
Her relative, Wasi Ahmad says, "...After dinner, she went to sleep, along with my mother. A wolf came at that time and attacked her. When we screamed, it ran away...There… pic.twitter.com/8LR2XVPpjz
This is the ninth death in wolf attacks since July 17. The deceased includes seven children, the recent being a two-year-old girl who was sleeping with her mother outside their home. Her mutilated body was found a kilometre from the village and the wolf had eaten both her hands.
A 70-year-old woman was also injured when a wolf entered her house and attacked her early on Monday.
The Forest Officials launched Operation Bhediya to catch the wolves and have been initiating an innovative effort to use colourful teddy dolls soaked in children's urine as bait to capture them. These dolls are being placed near the riverbanks, close to the wolves' resting places and dens.
However, the animals changing their habitat is posing a problem for the officials. "The wolves are constantly changing their locations. Typically, they hunt at night and return to their dens by morning. Our strategy is to mislead them and lure them away from residential areas towards traps or cages placed near their dens," Divisional Forest Officer Ajit Pratap Singh told PTI.
