Main prey for wolves here are deer, antelope, hare and livestock. Wolves occupy approximately 20 percent of the map shown. Range lines are not depicted.
Species Information
Species
Common Name: gray wolf
Latin Name:
Canis lupus
Subspecies
Common Name: Indian wolf
Latin Name:
Canis lupus pallipes
Current Wolf Population, Trend, Status
Number of wolves: About 1,000 - 2,000
Population trend: Decreasing
Legal protection: Full protection
Most recent wolf data available: 2007
Human Relationships
Wolf-Human Interactions
Wolf-Human Conflict in India
J. Henry Fair: Yadvendradev Jhala, IUCN Wolf Specialist, India. - as presented
at the Beyond 2000 Syposium, 2/2000
Yadvendradev Jhala, Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, PO
Box 18, Dehradun 248001, India
Wolves (Canis lupus pallipes) inhabit thorn forests, scrub-lands,
arid and semi-arid grassland habitats in India. It is one of the
common large carnivores found in the agro-pastoral regions of semi-arid
India. Majority of the 2000-3000 strong wolf population of India
survives outside of protected areas and in close proximity with
people. These wolves primarily subsist on livestock. Rural India
supports a very large cattle population and most people do not consume
beef in several regions of India. The tendency of discarding cattle
and buffalo carcasses that die of disease, old age, and starvation
around villages, sustains high densities of carnivores like wolves,
hyenas (Hyaena hyaena) and jackals (Canis aurius).
Besides scavenging the wolf also predates livestock like goats,
sheep and cattle calves. Wolf predation severely affects the economy
of the pastoral communities (nomadic and resident) that barely manage
to etch out a living from the highly over grazed and degraded landscape
of semi-arid India. The pastoral community invests significantly
in measures to protect sheep and goats from wolf predation. These
measures include night vigils, maintaining guard dogs, building
thorn corrals, and bringing the stock back to the village each night.
The attitude of people towards wolves was related to the food-habits
of wolves in that region. In areas where the wolf's major prey were
wild ungulates, people tended to view wolves with less hostility
and rarely were wolves directly persecuted. Whereas, in areas where
wolves subsist on livestock, peoples attitudes were extremely hostile
and most of the wolf mortality observed was human related. This
analysis suggests that some form of economic compensation for wolf
damage would help improve public attitudes towards the wolf in India.
Military areas have been found to offer protection and suitable
habitat for several endangered species in human dominated landscapes.
A pack of 13 wolves using an Airforce and Army base in a semi-urban
area in Maharashtra are currently being studied using telemetry.
Wolves use these military refuges during the day and patrol paved,
street lamp lit roads of the township during the night. They subsist
by scavenging on garbage dumps of houses and by predating sheep
and goats from hut compounds. These wolves have come into conflict
with the airforce authorities since they chew and damage the arrest
barrier net for restraining fighter aircraft. We are attempting
to mitigate this problem by experimenting with chemical repellant
sprays to prevent wolves from chewing on the barrier net.
In the eastern part of the wolf's range there have been several
reports of non-rabid wolf attacks on children. This severe form
of conflict reached its peak in eastern Uttar-Pradesh in 1996 when
a wolf was found to be responsible for attacks on 76 children (of
which over 50 were fatal). Sporadic fatal attacks on children by
wolves have been reported in 1997, 1998 and 1999 from other parts
of Uttar Pradesh. Our study suggests that in areas where there is
high human density (> 600 km2) of low economic status, with little
wild prey, and with livestock populations that are heavily guarded,
wolves could potentially attack children. Radio-telemetry data from
three different regions in western India suggests that wolves come
into contact with humans very often. It would be extremely easy
for wolves to attack children in these areas. However, no authentic
reports of wolf attacks on humans are available from these regions
in spite of these areas having high wolf densities. Our data suggests
that attacks on children are exceptionally rare in comparison to
the opportunities for attacks available to wolves in India. Such
attacks are an aberration of wolf behavior and should be viewed
within their special ecological and socio-economic context.
