Wolves are increasingly fierce in Atyrau Oblast

The place of Azgir is being terrorized by predators from the steppes.

Local people, whose only source of income is cattle breeding, are suffering from increasingly frequent wolf attacks. 

Over hundred heads of cattle have fallen victim to grey predators year to date. 

With account that a wolf can't survive without 8-10 kilos of meat a day, it is clear why nature endowed them with such insistence.

Wolves staged real massacre in the village of Konyr-Terek -- they calmly prowled in the streets and penetrated into cattle yards.

They wouldn't release their prey without resistance, even under a risk of being killed by herdsmen.

The villagers came out for real war.

"About 70 families organized a night watch. We guard cattle 24 hours, but should you snooze a bit, the wolves start acting immediately. They managed to slaughter 11 sheeps in one yard and another ten in the next yard," says Saifolla, a local of Konyr-Terek.

"It'd be better if amateur hunters helped us. Unfortunately, weapon permits are given for no more than 6 months. When a permit expires, one needs to travel to Atyrau to prolong it. This costs big money. How can one fight wolves in such a situation? You can't fight them with a spade," says Mansour KUANYSHALIYEV, a deputy of Kurmangazy District Council.

"Should there be volunteers to shoot wolves, we will give them bullets free of charge, says Bekbai TEMIRALIYEV, the head of district community of hunters and fishers. - Not a single wolf skin was submitted this year. Actually, it is a profitable business -- for skin of an adult wolf we pay T14,000 and T7,000 for a cub. We don't organize wolfhunts. Volunteers do that."  

By Lyazzat KARAZHANOVA