Losing habitat, jackals attacking villagers
24 of the injured received rabies vaccines
Several hundred inhabitants in a village in Bogura’s Shajahanpur upazila have been guarding their village with sticks after at least 30 of them were injured in attacks of a pack of golden jackals since Wednesday evening.
The jackals started attacking residents of Betgari village after some of the villagers started clearing surrounding bamboo groves and jungles that are home to many jackals.
The villagers clearing the bushes said they needed land for building new houses.
Since Wednesday night, 24 people from the village were given rabies vaccines, confirmed Safiq Amin Kazal, resident medical officer of Mohammad Ali Hospital in Bogura.
The injured had deep gashes in their limbs, the doctor also said.
Villager Osima Begum, 36, said, “A golden jackal attacked me suddenly while I was working in my house on Wednesday evening. It bit me in the legs and hands. I took vaccine that night from Mohammad Ali Hospital.”
“At least 25 to 30 jackals entered the village and started biting the villagers. Since Wednesday evening, people chased down and killed one jackal. Panicked villagers are now guarding the village with sticks in hands,” said another villager Monju Mia Babu.
Children are now scared to go to school as the jackals attacked a number of times already and they also bit several of the cattle in the village, he added.
Contacted, Prof SM Iqbal of zoology department at Government MM Ali College in Tangail said, “Usually jackals don’t attack humans, but they might attack if they carry rabies virus.”
They might also attack and bite humans when they are chased, he said, adding that old jackals have a history of biting humans too.
Shajahanpur upazila UNO Fuara Khatun said if the jackals are coming out of the jungle for scarcity of food and destruction of their habitation, steps would be taken to relocate them to a safer habitat.