Bahraich, Sept. 21 -- A three-year-old child disappeared in a wild animal attack in Gandhu Jhalla village of Bahraich's Kaiserganj tehsil. A search for the boy was taken up after he was dragged into the nearby fields by a wild animal in broad daylight on Saturday, officials said. The boy was yet to be traced when this report was filed. According to locals, the boy, son of one Raksha Ram, was sitting on the verandah of his house while his mother sat nearby in the courtyard when a "wolf-like" animal pounced and dragged the child away. The mother raised an alarm, but the child had disappeared into the nearby sugarcane fields before the neighbours could arrive. The forest department's teams rushed to the scene, and a massive search operation was taken up with the help of drones, trap cameras, and stick-wielding villagers. Yet, neither the child nor the predator could be located. Bloodstains in the sugarcane fields, which have been collected for forensic testing. Divisional forest officer (DFO) Ram Singh Yadav said, "Eyewitnesses are describing it as a large animal. The pattern of the attack suggests that it could be a leopard rather than a wolf. Only a leopard can drag away a child in front of people," he said. Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party MLA from Kaiserganj Anand Yadav visited the bereaved family and demanded Rs.50 lakh compensation for them. GP Singh, former DFO of the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, said the attacks might be linked to flooding of natural habitats due to heavy rainfall and erosion caused by the Ghaghra River. In the last two weeks, two children were killed and several people were injured in similar incidents in the district....