Woman injured in fresh wolf attack in Bahraich

Bahraich: In another late night wolf attack, a 50-year-old woman was seriously injured at her home in a village of Mahsi Tehsil here, her family members said on Thursday.

She has been hospitalised and is undergoing treatment, they said. The incident took place around 10.30 pm on Wednesday in Kowinpura village, Bhawani Pur, Bahraich Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ajit Pratap Singh said.

According to the woman’s son-in-law, Dinesh, Pushpa Devi was asleep in her house along with other family members, when the incident took place. He said that a child had left the door open after which a wolf came in and attacked her. Her daughter-in-law and others came to the room when they heard her screaming and found her lying on the ground, he said.

Locals also arrived at the spot after hearing the noise and seeing the crowd the wolf fled into a sugarcane field, Dinesh said. The injured woman was initially admitted at the Community Health Centre, Mahsi and then referred to Bahraich District Hospital, Singh said in an official statement. He said that three rescue teams are working in the areas identified by locals, using drones, setting up camera traps and searching for paw marks on foot to identify, locate and rescue the animal.

Meanwhile, public awareness programmes are underway to instruct villagers to stay indoors at night, Singh said. Efforts are also being made to drive the wolf away from populated areas using fireworks in sensitive zones, he added. Earlier on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning similar suspected wolf attacks were reported from Mahsi Tehsil’s two villages in which two girls, aged 11 and 10 were left injured. In the first incident, according to villagers, an 11-year-old girl, who was sleeping with her family in Makupurwa village, was lifted from her bed and dragged by the neck by a wild animal late Tuesday night.