The wolves of Bahraich are getting increasingly bolder.

Vimala Devi, 40, was sitting in her well-lit courtyard “a few feet from my family members” when a wolf pounced on her on Thursday night and sank its teeth into her right arm.

“My family members picked up sticks and rushed to save me. The animal disappeared in the agricultural fields,” the resident of Zeropurva hamlet in Manjhara Taukali panchayat told The Telegraph.

Wolves injured two others as well as a buckling (young goat) in Manjhara Taukali on Thursday.

Neha, 6, of Pradhanourva hamlet in Manjhara Taukali was badly injured by a wolf on Friday evening. Ganga Ram, her father, said: “She was playing outside the house around 6pm when this happened. Her condition is critical.”

Ram Sabal Nishad said his wife Afati Devi, 50, was attacked just outside their home in Bhergupurva around 10pm on Thursday and wounded in the right hand. She is
in hospital.

In Ballupurva, a wolf had dragged a buckling for about 100 metres in the evening before its owner, Wansh Raj, realised what was happening and gave chase.

“The wolf attacked me and injured me in the right leg. It vanished into the crop fields when I hit it twice with a lathi,” the 50-year-old said.

The area, close to the River Ghaghara and forests, has been home to a large wolf population for decades but the animals “used to flee when they saw humans”, Vimala’s husband Raju Nishad said.

“Many wolves still fear humans. But some, maybe half a dozen, that live near the riverbanks close to Manjhara Taukali have turned man-eaters after killing humans this year.”

Flood ‘hope’

Disappointed with the forest department’s failure to catch the wolves, some local people now say that floods alone can rid them of the threat.

“Two wet seasons have passed without much flooding here, and we expect floods next year. If that happens, the wolves will move towards Kaisarganj town (20km away) because they cannot live in waterlogged areas,” Raju said.

Ram, Afati’s husband, agreed. “There are no wolves here during floods,” he said.

“We (Nishads or fishermen) are comfortable during floods. We can survive on our boats and catch more fish than usual. We become victims of wild animals when the Ghaghara is in control.”

Most of the wolf attack victims — six have been killed and 35 injured in the area since September — have been impoverished Nishads, living in doorless huts.

The beginning

The attacks began last year with a pack of six wolves killing 10 people in Mahasi, about 40km from Manjhara Taukali and close to the Ghaghara’s banks.

The forest department caught all six but one of them died in its cage shortly after the capture. The rest were transferred to zoos in Gorakhpur and Lucknow.

While the grey wolves are considered an endangered species, the attacks prompted the state government to recently arm the forest department with shoot-at-sight orders. A wolf was later shot dead in a field.

Experts say the wolf attacks may be rooted in the animals’ loss of habitat from floods and human encroachment along riverbanks.

Acute poverty in the villages means that large numbers of households live in thatched mud houses that are more vulnerable to wild animals.

“Human-animal conflicts are not new to villages set near forests but we have no detailed studies. We have asked the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) to do something about it,” Bahraich divisional forest officer Ram Singh said.

Hasan Dabeer, senior project officer with the WWF, said: “We have no direct involvement with this matter and haven’t much to share with the media at this stage.”