Every night a Diwali as villagers burst crackers to ward off wolves | India News – Times of India

LUCKNOW: Diwali might be a couple of months away still, but villagers in UP’s Bahraich are stocking up on lights and firecrackers for weeks. As the sun goes down and the forests on the edge of panic-stricken villages – where a pack of three “killer wolves” have been on the prowl and taken the lives of seven villagers till now — reverberate with distant howls, crackers are burst intermittently until daybreak and all dark stretches are bathed in bright light to scare away the wolves.

Sleep has eluded villagers in the region for weeks.

The initiative, coordinated by the UP forest department and local police, aims to create a deterrent through loud noise and bright lights. Divisional forest officer Ajeet Pratap Singh said firecrackers are being set off every hour across several villages to protect residents.
“It is believed that loud noise and bright lights will deter the wolves from approaching villages, ensuring the safety of residents,” Singh said. Bahraich SP Vrinda Shukla said, “We have been on high alert ever since the wolves were first spotted in the region. This precautionary measure is being implemented in villages affected by wolf attacks, where the fear among residents is palpable. We are doing everything possible to prevent further incidents.”

After several days of combing, forest department teams, which had fanned out in sugarcane fields of Sisaiya village in Bahraich, captured a male wolf on Thursday. This was about a fortnight after the teams captured three wolves in neighbouring Hardi area.
The forest department teams are now on the lookout for the remaining two wolves of the pack believed to be behind the killings of the seven people – six children and a woman – in the past six weeks in Bahraich district.
High-mast lights have been installed in coordination with the electricity department, and police patrols are active in areas worst affected by the attacks. “We have formed several teams to patrol these areas. The teams conduct rounds every hour,” Shukla said.

The villagers are actively participating in these measures. Rajesh Lodhi, whose eight-year-old daughter Kushboo was killed in a wolf attack, said he remains vigilant along with other villagers and the administration. “We use torches, sticks, and iron rods, and we shout ‘Jaagte Raho’ (stay awake) now and then,” he said. Chandra Bali, a resident of Sisaiya village, expressed relief at the increased security. “The efforts by the forest and police departments have made a difference. We now have a high-mast light near the pond area, which we were avoiding as wolves were spotted there a couple of times.”
While 25 teams of the forest department are on the job to trap the wolves, over 350 security personnel have been deployed on the instruction of UP CM Yogi Adityanath in the terror-stricken villages.