Madhya Pradesh: Clip of unresponsive jackal being dragged surfaces after wild canid attack in Khandwa

Khandwa: A video of a man dragging an unresponsive Indian jackal by a string tied around its neck in Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa district has surfaced on social media after a wild canid bit five people.

The clip has emerged when an invasion of wolves is keeping the forest authorities on their toes in the Bahraich district of neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

A wild dog-like animal attacked three men and two women sleeping out in the open in the early hours of Friday at Malgaon village in tribal-dominated Khalwa tehsil, some 20 kilometres from Khandwa.

“We have also come across the video clip in which an unresponsive Indian jackal is being dragged. We are verifying it,” East Kalibheet Sub-Divisional Officer of Forests Sandeep Waskale told PTI over the phone.

Malgaon village residents told officials that the animal was captured on the spot but became unresponsive. When they left it for a while, the jackal darted into a wooded patch near a river, the official said citing the locals’ version.

“Canids, including foxes and wolves, pretend to be lifeless in difficult situations before fleeing,” he added.

The five people bitten by the wild animal sustained minor wounds. They were admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital at Khandwa and given anti-rabies shots and other medicines, the forest official said.

A wolf has big and sharper canines and inflicts deeper wounds, the forest official said, suggesting that the wild animal was most likely an Indian jackal.

“Two of our teams with seven to eight people are still searching for the wild animal,” he said.

Earlier, officials had claimed that a wolf had attacked the villagers.

The canid attack in MP comes at a time when wolves targeting humans in Uttar Pradesh have hit national headlines.

Wolves, which are bigger than jackals, are suspected to have killed at least six people and wounded several, all within a very short span, in UP’s Bahraich district.