A wolf has attacked a man in Ishkashim district of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region, or GBAO, according to the Emergencies Committee under the over Government of Tajikistan.
“A 48-year-old resident of Yakhchwol village in Ishkashim district was attacked by a wolf early in the morning of October 1 right in front of his house,” says an official source within the Emergencies Committee.
He was reportedly saved by neighbors who came running to his screams.
“The man was taken to the central district hospital with a hand injury,” said the source. “Doctors now assess his health condition as stable.”
It is to be noted that wolves are especially aggressive during the winter months and there were cases of attacks on villagers in Tajikistan's mountainous regions, prompting complaints from residents of GBAO that they have been unable to defend themselves against wolf attacks since local authorities confiscated their hunting rifles.
Tajik authorities noted on December 17, 2019 that wolf population has increased more than eight times over the past nearly 30 years.
The GBAO administration press center said in late 2019 that the number of wolves has increased in the region and they have become posing threat to the population.
Recall, wolves killed two women and injured several other people in GBAO in 2018. The two victims of the wolf attack were 83-year-old Amalbegim Tashrifbekova and her 55-year-old daughter Mastibegim Davandova from the Porshnev jamoat in the Shugnan district.
There have been other deadly wolf attacks in the region in recent years. In July 2017, wolves killed a 3-year-old child in the Wanqala jamoat, Shugnan district.
In early 2013, separate wolf attacks killed an elderly woman and severely injured another elderly woman in the Navobod jamoat, Shugnan district.
The Tajik authorities confiscated the hunting rifles of villagers in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region several years ago.
