A 9-year-old girl has died following a wolf attack in a village Shugnan district of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).
According to local authorities, the incident occurred on February 9 in a village, part of the Wanqala jamoat. A hungry wolf reportedly attacked the girl, who was on her way to school, in the early hours of the day.
While further details of the incident were not disclosed, local authorities confirmed that the regional governor issued instructions to district leaders to ensure that schoolchildren in mountainous areas are accompanied by adults on their way to school.
Additionally, it was recommended that any sightings of wolves near populated areas be immediately reported to the relevant authorities.
This is not the first time a wild animal attack has resulted in fatalities in this area. In recent years, the wolf population in the region has grown, and hungry predators are frequently forced to enter populated areas during the winter.
During the winter months, the risk of wolf and other wild animal attacks increases in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, where food shortages often drive predators closer to human settlements.
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.
There have been deadly wolf attacks reported in the region over the past decade.
In early 2013, separate wolf attacks killed an elderly woman and severely injured another elderly woman in the Navobod jamoat, Shugnan district.
In July 2017, wolves killed a 3-year-old child in the Wanqala jamoat, Shugnan district. In 2018, wolves killed two women and injured several other people in GBAO.
At least three people, including two children, were attacked by wolves in the Suchan jamoat alone of Shugnan district in 2019. In January 2019, a wolf attacked a five-year-old boy in the village of Dashtak, some nine kilometers to the east of Khorog, the administrative center of the GBAO, in the daytime. People came in time to help and the wolf left the boy and ran away. In February 2019, a wolf has attacked a police officer in the Dashtak village in the evening. Neighbors have reportedly come in time and saved him. In the same month, wolf attacked a 6-year-old boy in the neighboring village of Sipindz in the daytime. Relatives managed to save the boy.
On October 1, 2023, a 48-year-old resident of Yakhchwol village in GBAO’s Ishkashim district was attacked by a wolf early in the morning of October 1, 2023 right in front of his house. He was reportedly saved by neighbors who came running to his screams.
Local residents say they have just pitchforks and shovels to fight wolves when necessary. The Tajik authorities confiscated the hunting rifles of villagers in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region several years ago.