Uttar Pradesh: Two children allegedly mauled to death in lupine attacks in Bahraich

Two children have been mauled to death and six adults injured in two separate attacks carried out by wolves in the Bahraich district of eastern Uttar Pradesh, a senior official has told Down To Earth (DTE).

“Yes. There have been two incidents. Two girl children died on September 9 and 12 respectively. Six adults also have been injured,” Ram Singh Yadav, the divisional forest officer of Bahraich told DTE.

He added that teams of the local administration and forest department are combing the area, looking for the wolves using thermal cameras, drones, CCTV and camera traps. “The area is being constantly monitored,” said Yadav.

“This area is suitable wolf habitat and wolf attacks have been happening here. The site of the attacks is a little distance away from where wolf attacks took place in 2024,” said Yadav.

He added that it is difficult to know whether there is a pack along with the killer. “But we are trying our best to find out and if there is a pack, we will make efforts to tackle it.”

2024 attacks

Last year, Bahraich was in the news after a wave of attacks by wolves in the district on the border with Nepal between March and September wrought terror.

The attacks were thought to be caused by a pack of six wolves. Nine children and one woman were killed in the attacks in the Mahsi tehsil (subdistrict), leaving more than 50 people injured.

The authorities were able to capture five of the wolves. The sixth wolf was beaten to death by people in October, after which the attacks stopped.

Uttar Pradesh is no stranger to wolf attacks. In 1996, a spate of lupine attacks caused terror in the three districts of Pratapgarh, Sultanpur and Jaunpur.

The Indian wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) is classified as ‘Least Concern’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and included in Appendix I of CITES.