In India, villagers kill last wolf from man-eating pack

India map. INQUIRER FILES/STOCK PHOTO

LUCKNOW, India — Villagers in India have beaten to death a wolf believed to be the last of a six-member pack that killed nine people, eight of them children, wildlife officials said Sunday.

The grey wolves sparked hysteria among residents in the Bahraich district of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where the animals were said to have attacked more than 40 people.

More than 150 armed personnel and dozens of government forestry officials were deployed to capture the wolves last month.

Five of the animals were trapped, with drones and surveillance cameras suggesting only one remained free.

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Government forest officer Ajit Singh said villagers had contacted his team on Sunday after they killed a prowling wolf.

“We were informed about a dead animal in the village, and upon reaching the scene, we found a wolf with clear signs of physical injuries,” Singh told Agence France-Presse.

“It seems it is part of the same pack of wolves,” Singh said.

Further investigations were needed to verify that no more wolves remained in the area, he said.

Experts say wolves attack humans or livestock only as a last resort when they are starving, preferring less dangerous prey such as small antelopes.

However, wildlife officials say heavy flooding from extreme torrential rains had swamped the wolves’ usual territory, depriving them of hunting grounds, and driving them into areas of more populated farmland.

Some of those killed or injured were attacked while sleeping on the veranda of their homes, a common practice during the hot and humid days of the monsoon rains.

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The grassland plains of Bahraich district lie about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the border with Nepal, where thick forests cover Himalayan foothills.

The majority of India’s roughly 3,000 wolves survive outside protected areas, often in close proximity to people.

Numbers have been dwindling due to the loss of habitat and a lack of wild prey, experts say.

The animals, also known as the plains wolf, are smaller than the stronger Himalayan wolf and can be mistaken for other species such as jackals.

In Rudyard Kipling’s 1894 novel The Jungle Book, the “man-cub” Mowgli was raised in the jungle by grey wolves.