Sins of the previous life, got a second birth… 28 years ago wolves created terror, remembering it still makes the soul tremble

People are living in the shadow of fear for 28 years

The year was 1996, Tiwaripur Kala village of Pratapgarh… even today the people here live in fear. 28 years ago, this village was the most affected by the terror of wolves. The memories of that incident still scare the villagers. Many people are still afraid to come out of their homes in the dark. Talking to a private media channel, Kanhaiya Lal, an elderly resident of Tiwaripur Kala, said that we feel that maybe we must have committed some sin in our previous life due to which we had to see this day. Recalling that horrific time, he says, those were the most horrific days of our life, when children were not safe even in their mother's lap. During that time more than 60 children had died.

Terror of wolves in many districts

Kanhaiya Lal further explains, 'Our village, Raniganj, Patti, Vishwanathganj and even villages in neighbouring districts Sultanpur and Jaunpur were not untouched by this threat. The terror of wolves did not subside until the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department intervened.'

'Narrowly escapes wolf attack'

Mukesh Yadav, 52, a resident of the same village who narrowly escaped the wolf attack, shudders at the memory of the night that changed his life. Mukesh Yadav says, 'I was 24 years old and was sleeping in my field at midnight when the wolf attacked me. He tried to grab my neck, but before he could sink his teeth into my neck, I pushed him away and saved myself. But the trouble did not end here. The wolf pounced on me again and this time he grabbed my thigh. I tried hard to free myself from him, but he did not move at all.'

Mukesh further said that luckily a villager present nearby noticed the wolf and made noise. Hearing the noise, the forest department team immediately reached the spot and the wolf ran away after seeing them. Narrating his ordeal, Mukesh says that I really feel as if I got a second life that night. He said that I am grateful to the forest department team who saved my life. If they had not reached on time, I would probably not have been alive today.

The forest department ran the operation for 8 months

VK Singh, former warden of the forest department of Prayagraj region of UP, recalls the operation conducted in the 1990s to catch the man-eating wolves and says that it was the most difficult operation in the history of the state's forest department. More than 100 forest personnel were involved in this operation which lasted for about eight months and ended in the forests of Jaunpur. During this time, about 42 children died and the forest department killed about 13 man-eating wolves, only after which this terror ended. VK Singh further says that this operation to catch the wolves was conducted on the banks of the Sai river, which is located on the border of Jaunpur, Pratapgarh and Sultanpur. Both wolves and jackals lived around the villages of this area.

Why do wolves hunt humans?

What happened that wolves started hunting humans? Singh explains, 'We believe that such incidents often happen in search of easily available food, especially when the female wolf is pregnant or has given birth to a child.' Singh further explains, during these days the female wolf and her children are unable to hunt, so the male wolf goes out in search of food. In such a situation, human children are weaker than other prey and it is easy for the male wolf to hunt them. Once the child is killed, the male wolf eats twice the normal amount of food i.e. twice its capacity and after returning to the den, spits out the half-digested food for the female wolf and the children.

Singh explains, “After eating human flesh, knowingly or unknowingly the wolf pack gets used to it and starts liking it, so the wolves continue to prey on children. This dangerous cycle makes the wolves a constant threat as they start looking at human children as their main source of food.”