Horde of wolves have bitten a two-year-old baby to death in Shugnan district of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), according to the Interior Ministry press center.
The tragedy reportedly occurred Saturday (July 1) afternoon in the village of Imom Dasht, some 100 kilometers to the east of Khorog, the administrative center of GBAO. The baby boy was playing near his house when wolves attacked him.
The Interior Ministry press center says there were cases last winter when wolves attacked livestock but it was the first case this year that wolves attacked a human.
Meanwhile, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported in January 2012 that wolf attacks have increased in Gorno Badakhshan. At least six people were reportedly attacked by wolves in the region in December 2011 and January 2012.
Law enforcement officers told RFE/RL on January 20, 2012 that a special request has been sent to the Department for Environmental Protection to send armed specialists to help reduce the wolf population in the area.
Environment Protection Department officials in Gorno Badakhshan noted in 2012 that in 2006 the local government stopped funding a program to kill wolves and therefore their numbers have dramatically increased.
The heavy snowfall in the region has forced the wolves to come down from the hills and mountains to local villages where they have attacked livestock and people.
But it is the first time that wolves attacked a human in the summer; moreover, in the daytime and practically in the center of the village.
