Hour of the wolf? UP villagers on alert, but two deaths cast a shadow of doubt: Report

A new spectre is looming large over residents of two dozen villages in the Mahsi Tehsil area of Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh—wolves—or so it seems.

Men in these villages are staying up through the night, with iron rods, sticks, and torches in their hands, as per a report by Hindustan Times. They scream 'Jagte Raho', which translates to 'stay awake'.

Women in these villages tie their children to their sarees while sleeping at night.

These fears have an alarming reason behind them—the publication reports that wolves have been killing children in these villages. Around nine children have lost their lives to the canine attacks so far since March.

The terror of wolves has escalated to such an extent that children are now being held back from going out of the house even during daytime. Even sending them to school now seems a scary thought.

High-frequency drone cameras are being used to monitor the wolf pack. So far, three wolves have been captured.

However, there is still uncertainty about the total number of wolves involved, with the administration and forest department estimating three more wolves, while villagers claim there could be up to a dozen, he added.

Be that as it may, officials have now discovered that two of the attacks do not look like classic wolf attacks.

SP Vrinda Shukla told the publication that on the body of victim Rita Devi, 21 puncture marks were discovered but no part of her corpse was eaten by the animal/s.

She also revealed that the wounds, although look like the results of a canine attack, are not as deep as those from wolf attacks.

In another case, eight-year-old Khushboo's body was found uneaten. The report states that wolves generally maul the neck and face of their victims and eat from the arms and legs. In this case, the body was found with minimal injury marks, which have raised concerns of whether foul play is involved.

“We are inspecting all possible angles in those two doubtful cases,” the SP told the publication.

With PTI inputs