Amid Attacks By Wildlife, Villagers & Scientists Hunt For Answers

On a bright Saturday afternoon, Rafique, who goes by his first name, is busy counting the bullet cartridges in his left pouch. Rafique is a forest watcher with the Uttar Pradesh Wildlife Department. He also works as a designated shooter when required. This time, he has been deployed in Balrajpurva and nearby villages with a grim task: to hunt down and kill the animals, believed to be wolves, that are behind a series of recent attacks on humans, including children.

These attacks have been taking place across a dozen of the villages and hamlets in the Bahraich district. As of October 21, allegedly six humans, including an elderly couple, have been killed and more than 20 people have been attacked since September 9. While many suspect the animals to be wolves, experts are disputing the claim.

“We have orders to shoot wolves on sight and have so far killed three of the six wolves,” Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ajit Singh told Mongabay-India. The senior wildlife officer, currently posted in Ghazipur, has been temporarily deployed to manage the situation, as he had led a similar operation in 2024 in another part of the Bahraich district. He said that during that time, two wolves were killed and five were captured.

It is pertinent to note that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered either to catch the wolf responsible for the recent attacks or call shooters to eliminate it for public safety.

“I am not blaming the wolves for attacking the humans,” Singh said. “What I have observed appears linked to extensive human encroachment into the wolves’ natural habitat. Proper research is needed to determine why these incidents are repeating, as such incidents happened last year as well.”

“Based on my observation, it appears that the heavy human encroachment in the wildlife area where these wolves reside is a major contributing factor to the attacks. Floods or even heat could be a reason behind this. Yet, we need proper research to find out the exact cause, as it happened last year as well,” the senior wildlife officer said about the recurring situation.

In India, changing weather and climate patterns are increasing human-wildlife conflict. According to a report by Wildlife SOS, rising temperatures and unpredictable rainfall are disrupting the breeding and migration of animals, although there is no specific India-based literature available to discuss the impact on wolves.

Fear returns to the villages

Post September 9, when the spate of attacks started, the residents of over 40 villages have been spending sleepless nights guarding their homes and family members from wildlife attacks, which they are witnessing for the first time in their lifetime.

Some of the families have made a makeshift scaffolding while all the male members keep a stick or a lance (a heavy nail attached to one end of the stick). The families are scared to send their children to school, and many parents resort to sitting outside the school, guarding their children at all times.

Indal Chauhan, 28, a resident of Balrajpurva, who has been working as a daily wage earner in Surat, Gujarat, has returned to his village due to concerns about wildlife attacks. “I received a phone call from my wife on September 10 when she told me about the attack by wolves, and then I decided to return home as there is nothing more precious than the life of my family members,” he said. Soon after returning, Indal Chauhan got a spoke wheel of a bicycle welded to a four-foot-long iron rod and walked with that. He said, “A few days ago I saw a wolf sitting under the charpoy in an attempt to catch prey, but I saw him and I ran towards him. He was lucky to have fled my attack.”

“My expenses have increased because for just two kilometres I have to now get a school van for both my children. I cannot risk sending them to school on foot or by bicycle, but this is the reality. Our mental health has also gone for a toss because we do not sleep properly, and there is a fear of wolf attack on us all the time,” he added.

DFO Singh informed that the villagers have been given cracker bombs by the wildlife department after an elderly couple was mauled to death by wild animals on the intervening night of September 9-10. They have been regularly combing the sugarcane fields along with doing a round-the-clock surveillance through thermal screening-based drones. Members of the wildlife department were also attacked by the villagers, who were irked by the mauling of the elderly couple.

“We have been urging villagers not to let children sleep outside and to prevent them from going out after nightfall,” said DFO Singh, noting that homes in the area have few doors, making it easier for wild animals to slip inside.

He explained, “Normally, wolves don’t attack humans. It is difficult to say why this is happening…” He pointed out there had been no similar attacks in decades. The last such situation was nearly 20 years ago when wolves had allegedly killed 32 children across Gonda, Bahraich, and Balrampur districts.

Range Officer, Bahraich, Mohammad Saqib, said the attacks are concentrated in the Ghaghra floodplain, where plentiful water, tall sugarcane, and grasslands, alongside intense heat and rain, have delayed rescue operations.

A shifting habitat

One of the most remarkable traits of the Indian grey wolf is its ability to coexist with humans. Over 70% of its population lives outside India’s protected areas, inhabiting human-dominated landscapes. However, this coexistence comes at a cost. The rapid decline of grasslands has led to a decline in populations of native prey species, such as the chinkara and blackbuck, forcing wolves to rely heavily on livestock, including goats and sheep.

The data on wolves in India remains insufficient. But a 2022 study found that the country’s wolf population could be as small as 2,568 to 3,847, making wolves more endangered than tigers.

Wildlife expert and a professor in the zoology department at Lucknow University, Amita Kanaujia linked the wolves’ aggression to habitat loss from flooding, which forces them to search for food near human settlements. “Indian grey wolves are found extensively in the Terai region. A recent report indicated their numbers exceed a hundred in Lakhimpur and Pilibhit, which neighbour Bahraich,” Kanaujia says.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Sanjay Srivastava offered another perspective. “The rainy season has flooded the forests, driving wild animals out in search of food. They’re hunting whatever they find near the forest edge,” Srivastava says.

Conservationists debate the cause of this unexpected behaviour of what are believed to be wolves, animals that are distinctly shy of humans. Y.V. Jhala, former dean of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), suggested that this spate of attacks is owed to hybridisation: dog-wolf hybrids.

Wildlife biologist Saheer Khan, who is associated with WII as project scientist, recalled the uncertainty and confusion that marked the aftermath of the attacks in Bahraich. “Last year, when these were happening, I spent about a month on the ground, so I was familiar with the pattern of events,” says Khan. This year, however, health issues prevented him from undertaking fieldwork, although the local forest department sought his expertise remotely. “They sent me pictures of injuries, asking for help in identifying the culprit. I received about 45 images, but none bore the typical hallmarks of a wolf attack,” he observes. Khan explains that wolves usually target children, biting at the neck to drag their prey. “These injuries, mostly deep wounds to the chest and hands, didn’t fit that pattern,” Khan says.

Missing scientific proof

Khan highlights a critical gap in investigation: “I asked them to collect swab samples from attack victims for genetic analysis, which is the only way to confirm if wolves were responsible. But those samples haven’t reached research labs like the Wildlife Institute of India.”

Misinformation is rife, he adds. “People sometimes report scratches — from sticks, even dogs — as wolf attacks. Actual wolf attacks are rare compared to the high number of reported cases.”

According to Khan, the area has a significantly larger population of feral dogs and jackals than wolves, which increases the likelihood of misidentification. “People are on edge — almost every animal sighted is suspected to be a wolf. Drone footage does confirm wolves in the landscape, but we can’t say all these incidents are caused by them,” he notes. Wolves, he explains, typically hunt young children, often dragging them away, and avoid adults when possible.

He also mentioned the challenge of correctly identifying hybrid animals in ongoing cases. “Some individuals seen in recent years don’t resemble hybrids, though there’s always that possibility. Often, the blame lands on wolves when the reality is more complex.”

Khan stressed the rarity of such incidents in Uttar Pradesh and across India, despite wolf populations being at risk. “Recent state assessments show about 3,300 wolves remain. Attacks on humans are infrequent, with rabid wolves sometimes responsible for a brief spell of aggression before succumbing to the disease, much like rabid dogs.”

“The way forward is scientific: genetic testing of swabs from injured individuals to establish if a wolf, jackal, leopard, or another species was responsible. Without that, fear and speculation will continue to drive misunderstanding and conflict,” Khan concluded.

He stated that he had recommended collecting and sending swabs to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) or another institute for testing both last year and this year.

Mongabay-India reached out to IVRI Bareilly, and a senior official stated that they have no knowledge of what is happening and have not been approached yet by any relevant department. The official requested anonymity to steer clear of any controversy.

As the sun sets over Bahraich’s sugarcane fields, villagers light small fires near their homes, hoping to keep the wolves — or whatever predator lurks in the darkness — away. But for wildlife biologists, the real threat lies elsewhere: in the absence of science guiding the state’s response.

“Wolves have survived in India’s shared landscapes for centuries,” says biologist Saheer Khan. “What’s changed is not the animal, but the land and our fear of it.”

(Published under Creative Commons from Mongabay India)