DUSHANBE, February 7, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Heavy snowfalls in the mountain areas of the country have forced the wolves to come down from the mountains to villages, where they have attacked livestock and people.

Residents of the remote high-mountain district of Jirgatol (Rasht Valley in eastern Tajikistan) complain that wolf attacks on livestock have been increasing.

Abduqodir Maskayev, an official with the Committee for Environmental Protection, however, says that it is no wonder because such a situation is observed practically every winter.  He added that some organizations were prompting residents of remote mountain areas what to say.

“They are doing this in order to obtain permission for year round wolf hunting,” Tajik official said.

Meanwhile, according to some media sources, at least six people were attacked by wolves in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) in January 2012.

We will recall that the government stopped funding a program to kill wolves in 2006, and therefore, their numbers have dramatically increased.