MP: Five members of family injured in wolf attack in Khandwa, says police

Five members of a family in Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh were on Friday, 6 September attacked by a wolf, a senior police official said.

The incident took place at 2:30am in Malgaon village in tribal-dominated Khalwa tehsil, some 20 kilometres from the district headquarters, Harsud Sub Divisional Officer of Police Sandeep Vaskale told reporters.

"After the family started screaming, neighbours and others arrived and chased away the wolf. A woman has sustained wounds on her hands while four men have been bitten on the hands. They are being treated in Khandwa Medical College Hospital," the SDOP said.

Khandwa Divisional Forest Officer Rakesh Damor told reporters the injured have been given rabies shots and medicines.

"The wild animal has not been rescued as yet. Efforts are on to trace the animal. It is one animal (and not a pack) as per accounts of the victims. However, it is tough to say with certainty it was a wolf," he told PTI.

"Going by the purported video clip doing the rounds on social media, it is too early to say about which animal it was. In the video, the animal looks like a jackal to me, a bit smaller than a wolf," the DFO said.

Asked about the police's claim that it was a wolf, Damor said he won't comment on it but added it was the forest department that deals with wildlife.

"Investigations are on. The victims have suffered bruises. Patrolling in the area has been intensified," Damor said.

The incident comes in MP at a time when wolf attacks in Bahraich in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh have made national headlines.

In the last two months, Bahraich district has recorded eight deaths, including seven children in a series of attacks by wolves while around three dozen other people were left injured, as per officials there.