A wolf pounced on a toddler and dragged him away from outside his home in Bahraich on Saturday night, marking an escalation in man-animal conflict in the Uttar Pradesh district.

The incident took place at Manjhara Taukali Gandujhala village when three-year-old Ankesh Kumar was playing in the lap of his mother Sarla Yadav near their home.

“The wolf jumped on her, snatched the child and bolted away,” Ankesh’s father, Raksha Ram Yadav, said.

“We tried to chase the animal, but it ran away. We kept looking for the wolf the whole night but failed. Villagers had informed forest officials immediately after the incident, but they came late and couldn’t do anything except recording our statements,” he added.

Divisional forest officer (DFO) Ram Singh Yadav said his team was trying to cage the wolves that had strayed from the forest and entered the adjacent villages.

“We are also searching for the child. There are dense bushes in the area where animals can easily hide themselves. We have divided the affected area into four sectors and set up five traps and 15 solar CCTV cameras,” he said.

The DFO said at least six wolves were roaming the area in search of prey.

“According to the villagers, two of them are roaming together while the others are alone. We have been alert since last year, but can’t keep our doors closed all the time. We also can’t stop our family members from sitting in the veranda or outside the house,” he said.

This was the fourth incident since June this year when wolves had ventured out of the forest to enter human habitation and kill children in Bahraich. On June 3, two-year-old Ayush was killed by a wolf in Garhipurva village. There has been an increase in wolf attacks this month, with two four-year-old girls being killed in Paragpur and Bahorva villages on September 10 and 12. Wolves have also killed at least 10 goats since June.

According to experts, wolves enter human habitats when the forests are waterlogged and they are not able to dig dens in sandy soil.

The villages that are vulnerable to wolf attacks are within a 50km radius of the Katarniaghat Sanctuary and located close to the hamlets where a pack of wolves had killed over 20 people last year.

Omkar Nath, a forest ranger, said: “We are deploying drone cameras in the area to locate the animals. We are also laying traps and hope to catch them soon.”