A hunt by thousands of villagers and police officers has killed only 10 wolves so far. With new attacks each week, hysteria is sweeping the area of the killings, a terrain of lush fields interlaced with rivers and ravines that reaches about 60 miles north to south and about 40 miles across. More than 9 million people live in the region in some of the harshest poverty found in India. Other rumors have put the blame for the killings on infiltrators from Pakistan, who are said to have dressed up as wolves. Pakistan is India's traditional enemy.
Men stay awake all night, keeping vigil with antique rifles and staves.
Mothers keep children from the fields, and infants are kept inside all day. In the dark interiors of stark brick homes made clammy by the monsoons, fantastic stories are told, sweeping aside all attempts by officials to convince villagers that the killers have been wolves. She told her story with tears in her eyes, to anxious murmurs from the crowd. Then it threw him over its shoulder. It was wearing a black coat, and a helmet and goggles.