Wolf snatches 3-year-old boy sleeping next to mother, mauls him to death in UP's Bahraich

Bahraich (UP), Dec 22 (PTI) A wolf snatched a three-year-old boy sleeping next to his mother on the verandah of their house, dragged him to a field, and mauled him to death in the Kaiserganj tehsil in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district on Monday morning, a senior forest department official said.

So far, 12 people, including an elderly couple, have died in wolf attacks in the Kaiserganj area, while 32 people have been injured, officials said.

Divisional Forest Officer of Bahraich Forest Division Ram Singh Yadav told PTI, "On Monday at around 4.30 am, a wild animal snatched Ansh, son of Shiv Manohar, who was sleeping on a straw mat in the verandah of his house with his mother in the Rasulpur Dareta village, located amidst a populated area.

"Upon receiving the news, forest department teams, along with villagers, launched a search operation. At noon, the child's mutilated body was recovered about one kilometre from the house. Both of the child's hands and one leg had been eaten. The manner in which the child was carried away and eaten confirms that it was a wolf attack," Yadav said.

The DFO said that the forest department and the district administration are maintaining vigilance at every level. Day and night patrolling and awareness campaigns are being conducted in the villages.

District Magistrate Akshay Tripathi has asked farmers in the flood-prone areas along the Ghaghra river to harvest their sugarcane crop as soon as possible.

The administration is issuing sugarcane slips to farmers in these areas on a priority basis. Efforts to rescue the wolves are continuously underway in the affected area using cages, camera traps, drones, and other modern and traditional methods. PTI COR NAV MNK MNK