31.200.14.241: /* Investigation */

2021-06-28T22:30:55Z

Investigation

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The '''Kali River goonch attacks''' were a series of fatal [[Animal attacks|attacks]] on [[humans]] believed to be perpetrated by [[man-eater|man-eating]] [[Bagarius yarrelli|90 kg fish]]<ref>{{cite web|last1=Cockcroft|first1=Lucy|title=Mutant fish develops a taste for human flesh in India|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3163501/Mutant-fish-develops-a-taste-for-human-flesh-in-India.html|website=The Telegraph|accessdate=25 July 2017|date=October 9, 2008}}</ref> in three villages on the banks of the [[Kali River (Uttarakhand)|Kali River]] in [[India]] and [[Nepal]], between 1998 and 2007. This is the subject of a TV documentary aired on 22 October 2008,{{cn|date=January 2020}} as well as an episode about the Kali River goonch attacks on the [[Animal Planet]] series ''[[River Monsters]]''.

==Attacks==
The first attack occurred in April 1998, when at 13:00, 17-year-old Dil Bahadur, while swimming in the river, was dragged underwater in front of his girlfriend and several eyewitnesses. No remains were found, even after a three-day search spanning 5 kilometers (3.11 miles).
Three months later, at Dharma Ghat, a young boy was pulled underwater in front of his father, who watched helplessly. No corpse was ever found.
The final attack occurred in 2007 when an 18-year-old Nepalese man disappeared in the river, dragged down by something described as a mud-colored "water pig".{{cn|date=January 2020}}

==Investigation==
[[Image:Bagarius yarrelli.jpg|thumb|Goonch catfish (''Bagarius yarelli'')]]
British biologist [[Jeremy Wade]] volunteered to capture the perpetrator. Though originally skeptical of the truth behind the attacks, he later became intrigued because the attacks only occurred in a specific area spanning {{convert|4|mi}}. He was told by the villagers that the creature likely developed a taste for human flesh and had grown large after eating half-burnt human remains discarded from [[funeral pyre]]s on the river banks. After examining the water where Bahadur had disappeared with a [[Echo sounding|depth sounder]], Wade discounted the possibility of the boy having been dragged by a [[whirlpool]], as the attacks all occurred in areas without turbulence. Later, {{convert|1|km|adj=on}} away, a [[domestic water buffalo]] was reportedly dragged underwater by a strange animal while drinking in water only one meter (3 feet) deep. Wade theorised that the creature would have had to have weighed {{convert|200|lb}}–{{convert|300|lb}} in order to do so.<ref name="goonch">''Nature Shock: Flesh-Eating River Monster'', Channel Five, October 14, 2008, 8pm</ref> The buffalo weighs {{convert|660|lb}}–{{convert|880|lb}}, according to the film.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYQo8UGXA2k</ref>

[[File:Bagarius yarrelli India.png|thumb|left|Giant ''[[Bagarius yarrelli]]'' (goonch) caught in India. Some goonch in the Kali river grow large enough to attack humans and water buffalo.]]
All three species of [[crocodile]] possible in the area were dismissed: [[saltwater crocodile]]s are not known to travel so far inland; the jaw structure of [[gharial]]s prevents them from killing humans or buffalo; and [[mugger crocodile]]s, the most common Indian species, do not inhabit the cold torrents of the Kali River. Also, crocodiles had never been seen on land to bask or breed. Although [[bull shark]]s were initially considered, an underwater investigation by marine biologist Rick Rosenthal in the area where the buffalo disappeared yielded no sightings of bull sharks. Further, Wade believed that bull sharks would not have lived so far upriver, and there had been no sightings of dorsal fins breaking the water's surface. However, during the underwater investigation, a {{convert|1|m|adj=on}} goonch catfish was sighted, which Wade unsuccessfully tried to capture. Later underwater investigations yielded numerous group sightings of goonch, six of which were man-sized.<ref name="goonch" />
After an unsuccessful attempt was made at capturing one with a fishing rod, a funeral pyre was set up in order to lure one in. A record-breaking {{convert|2|m|adj=on}}, goonch was captured the day after, and was weighed at {{convert|73|kg}},<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/river-monsters/fish-guide/goonch-catfish-india-nepal/|title=Goonch Catfish|date=2014-04-15|work=Animal Planet|access-date=2017-04-23|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Corpse-Eating Mutant Fish Caught|url=http://news.sky.com/story/640061/corpse-eating-mutant-fish-caught|website=Sky News|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030194722/http://news.sky.com/story/640061/corpse-eating-mutant-fish-caught|archivedate=October 30, 2013|date=October 9, 2008}}</ref> three times the weight of an average goonch. Although Wade estimated that the fish was strong and large enough to eat a small child, he stated in an interview that he believed that larger specimens were likely to exist, and that the specimen he captured was not large enough to be the alleged maneater, on the basis of the sizes of the victims.<ref name="goonch" />

These events were shown on his program ''[[River Monsters]]''.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Deaths due to fish attacks]]
[[Category:Man-eaters of India]]
[[Category:Animal attacks]]
[[Category:Fish of India]]
[[Category:1998 in India]]
[[Category:1998 in Nepal]]

Kali River goonch attacks - Revision history

31.200.14.241: /* Investigation */