English News
Local
Gujarat
Rabies Risk After Animal Attack In Vauva Village | Cows Buffaloes Safety
Gujarat Explainer ‘Mysterious’ animal that bit 15 people found dead: It also attacked cattle; can the rabies virus reach milk?
Ahmedabad 1 month ago
Copy link
Vauva, a village in the Santalpur taluka of Patan. It is 114 kilometres away from Patan. On the night of Saturday, August 29, an incident occurred in the darkness of this village that the villagers had never imagined. An animal entered the village and bit 15 people so severely that chunks of flesh were torn out. For two days, there was a mystery surrounding this animal, and many speculations were made, but now the curtain has been lifted. Why did the animal do this? What will happen next? We will find out in Gujarat Explainer…
Question-1: What happened? Answer: The Saturday sun had set. Villages do not have halogen lights like cities, but a faint light from flickering bulbs was spread around. The night deepened. People finished their dinner and started to sleep.
Most people were sleeping on cots in the open air. It was two o’clock, three o’clock in the morning… the night progressed, and an animal entered Vauva village. It was aggressive. It was filled with intense fury. It had a temperament that suggested it would knock down anyone who came in its way.
This is Vauva village in Santalpur, North Gujarat. Here, there are houses with roofs like these, and they are all close together. This tiny village has a population of barely 4,000.
And that animal did exactly that. It entered the village at 3:30 AM. First, it sneaked into a cattle shed where a buffalo was sitting. It bit the buffalo’s mouth hard. The buffalo started bellowing. Hearing its sound, the animals tied in the nearby sheds also started bellowing.
Meanwhile, the animal became frantic and started jumping into everyone’s sheds. It would bite the mouths of cows, calves, and buffaloes and then run away. Now, it was the humans’ turn.
In villages, there is no distinction between a house and a bedroom. People sleep outside on cots. The houses are small and makeshift, with tiled roofs. People often sleep alone in their huts.
That animal now started attacking humans. First, it grabbed a little girl’s cheek and pulled it so hard that a piece of her cheek tore off and ended up in the animal’s mouth. Blood spurted out.
The girl started screaming. Everyone in the house woke up. From a nearby hut, an old woman’s voice was heard… Oh God… save me… The villagers slowly started waking up. The animal had grabbed the old woman by the head and pulled. The poor woman’s scalp, including her hair, was torn off.
The animal became increasingly aggressive and bit 15 people one after another. And what kind of bites-the kind that would tear chunks of flesh out. Chaos erupted in Vauva village.
Meanwhile, it was gradually half-past five in the morning. The sun’s rays were preparing to emerge. The villagers were in fear. After all, what kind of animal came at night that bit people to such an extent? Someone said it looked like a leopard cub. Someone said it was a fox. Someone said it could be a hyena. But it was none of these.
Question-2: If not a fox, and not a hyena, then what bit them? Answer: What was the animal that bit about eight animals and 15 people in a single night in Vauva village? This question became a topic of discussion. How could there be CCTV in the streets of a small village, but one man had CCTV at his home.
The animal jumped over the compound wall and entered that man’s house. It bit the lower lip of his elder brother who was sleeping. It sank its teeth into the hand of his son who was sleeping. It jumped back over the wall and fled, and was captured on CCTV.
Looking at the round spots on its back and its shape, it seemed like it could be a hyena. But it wasn’t confirmed. The villagers were certain it was a fox. Some had seen it in the dark.
At 6 AM, the forest department was informed that such an incident had occurred in Vauva village. The forest department team reached immediately with the necessary equipment. What happened next?
In response, Patan DCF Nikunj Parmar, in a conversation with Divya Bhaskar, said that the animal bit different people between four and six o’clock in the morning. As soon as we were informed, our team arrived. We found a CCTV camera near the house of the last person injured in the village. In that footage, we saw a dog jumping over a wall. The same dog is also seen coming from another direction.
The animal seen in the CCTV was a rabid dog. It was captured on camera at 6 AM on the 30th.
That rabid dog was found dead at 8 AM on the 30th. (Photo courtesy: Forest Department)
When our team asked the villagers, everyone gave different answers. Some said it was a fox, others said it was a hyena. Our staff continued to patrol the surrounding area. Between 7 and 8 in the morning, a dead dog was found. This was the same dog that appeared in the CCTV footage.
The Forest Department made a list of all the injured in the village and instructed them to be sent to the Dharpur Medical College and Treatment Center. The injured were taken there, and after the dog bite, they were administered the anti-rabies vaccine. The incident occurred at midnight on Saturday. Treatment and vaccines were provided on Sunday, and by 2:00 PM on Sunday, everyone was sent home.
The animals that have been bitten by the dog will also need to be vaccinated. This is the responsibility of the Animal Husbandry Department, so the Forest Department has informed them. Now, they will carry out their work.
Question-3: Why did it bite with such aggression? Answer: If a dog gets rabies, it can only survive for up to ten days. Dr. Anurag Prasad stated that if the dog has rabies virus and bites a human or an animal, the rabies virus will be transferred to them. Not every dog bite causes rabies.
Rabies only occurs if the dog that bites is infected with the rabies virus. If the dog dies after biting, it should be understood that it was rabid. A dog can become rabid if it is bitten by a bat, a fox, or another rabid dog.
Stray dogs in villages or fields come into contact with wild animals, which is why stray dogs in villages can easily contract rabies. How can a dog become so aggressive that it bites to such an extent? This question arises in everyone’s mind. So, there are two types of rabies that dogs can get.
The dog had become so rabid that it entered people’s homes and bit them. (Symbolic image, AI generated)
Furious Rabies: This type of rabies is the most dangerous. In this stage, the animal becomes violent. During this time, it cries loudly, may experience seizures, and stops eating or drinking. The virus begins to attack the nervous system, and the animal cannot swallow food. It cannot drink water. Excessive saliva begins to drool from its mouth. When the virus attacks the brain, it becomes aggressive and starts biting anyone who comes in its way.
Paralytic Rabies: In this type of rabies, the dog goes into a coma and is unable to breathe. It suffers from paralysis and eventually dies.
The rabid dog that entered Vauva village in Santalpur taluka had furious rabies. It had already been eight to nine days since the rabies virus had infected it. Such a dog loses control over its brain.
It is not aware of what it is doing. Eventually, it died due to brain swelling without eating or drinking anything. That is why the Forest Department found it dead. If this dog had not been found dead, the speculation about it being a fox or a hyena would have continued.
The Patan Forest Department team reached the village and conducted patrolling
However, the Patan Forest Department team did not let their guard down. A dead dog was found between seven and eight o’clock on Sunday morning. They even compared it with the CCTV footage.
Still, since the villagers kept saying “fox… fox…”, they continued patrolling in Vauva village throughout Sunday and the entire night, until Monday morning, August 31st. This was done so that if any fox or hyena were actually found or had wandered in, it could be studied. However, no fox or hyena was found in that area during the day and night patrolling.
On the left is a jackal and on the right is a hyena. Both are canine animals, which is why the villagers mistook the dogs for jackals in the dark
Question-4: If a rabid animal bites cattle, does the virus get mixed into the milk? Answer:
Generally, the rabies virus, known as ‘hadakwa’ in Gujarati, is found in a dog’s saliva. If a dog bites a milch animal like a cow or buffalo, that animal can contract rabies. Regarding this, Dr. V.S. Modh, a Veterinary Officer in the Animal Health Section of the Gujarat Animal Husbandry Department, says that the time it takes for rabies to affect an animal depends on where the rabid dog has bitten it.
For instance, if a dog bites a cow or buffalo on the leg while it is standing, the virus enters the bloodstream, travels through the entire nervous system, and reaches the brain. This process takes time. However, if the animal is sitting and is bitten near its nose or face, the virus can reach the brain immediately.
The same applies to humans. If a bite occurs around the face, it does not take long for the virus to reach the brain. Therefore, the best remedy for both humans and animals is to clean the wounded area with soapy water for five minutes.
The soap kills the rabies virus instantly. Afterwards, one should get a vaccine from a doctor. For animals as well, the area where the dog has bitten should be immediately cleaned with soapy water.
In Vauva village, a rabid dog bit the mouths of cows and buffaloes, causing them to bleed. The animals are also facing difficulty in eating
If an animal is affected by rabies, it may experience seizures, be unable to swallow water, and eventually fall ill and die. As for the milk, it has not yet been proven that the virus enters the milk of dairy cattle after being bitten by a rabid dog.
Scientific research is still pending. However, just because the virus enters the animal’s blood does not mean it enters the milk. Yes, the milk of an animal bitten by a dog can be consumed after boiling, because the rabies virus dies quickly in a hot environment. For instance, if the saliva of a rabid dog falls on the road, the virus does not spread because it dies immediately due to the heat of the sun.
In December 2025, an incident occurred in Piproli village of Badaun district, Uttar Pradesh. It so happened that there was an event in the village where 200 people had gathered. Raita made from curd was served as part of the meal.
Everyone ate it with great relish, but later it was discovered that the buffalo whose milk was used to make the curd had rabies. The buffalo died two days after the event.
The lives of those who had eaten the meal were put at risk. When the Animal Husbandry Department learned about this, all 200 people were immediately administered anti-rabies vaccines.
At night, the villagers keep watch with weapons. The villagers are still in fear that if that ferocious animal comes again at night
At that time, while explaining to the villagers, the doctors said that if a buffalo has been bitten by a rabid dog, the rabies virus remains only at the bite site and in the surrounding peripheral nervous system.
The rabies virus does not enter the blood nor does it reach the milk in the udder. It takes a long time for the virus to travel through the nervous system to reach the brain.