After wolves, now unrestrained leopard terrorises UP’s Bahraich | India News

NEW DELHI: Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh has been witnessing an ugly consequence of human-wildlife conflict, with wild leopards loitering unrestrained in the city, which only last year dealt with the menace of wolves.
Five people were injured in Bahraich’s Bargadwa village on Thursday in recent incidents of leopard attacks, which have petrified the hamlet.
“Leopard attacked five people… it stays in the village and daily takes away dogs as well as children…,” recounted victim Shankardayal in a conversation with news agency ANI.
Panic crept in Bargadwa Thursday morning after a leopard targeted five people, three of whom are being treated and two have been referred for further care.
“A case will be filed by tonight and financial assistance will be provided to the injured,” said Katarniaghat Bahraich DFO B Shivshankar.
Regarding the human-wildlife conflict, the forest department advised people not to go alone into sugarcane fields or leave meat or livestock outside.
“Leopards tend to avoid groups, so staying in pairs or groups can help prevent attacks,” Shivshankar said.
In 2024, October, villagers in panic-stricken Mahsi tehsil of Bahraich district killed a sixth wolf.
According to forest officials, that was the last of the “killer” pack that terrorised over 55 villages in the region since March, claiming nine lives and injuring over 50 in a series of wolf attacks.
Residents of Tamachpur village said that the wolf had tried to attack a child sleeping next to his mother in the courtyard of a house in the village, but on hearing the mother’s screams, the wolf ran away and attacked a goat there.
Later, the villagers surrounded the wolf and beat it to death, they said.
Earlier on September 10, a fifth wolf was captured as part of the “Operation Bhediya” campaign that was ongoing in the region to catch the “killer” pack.