Children forced to arm themselves with axes to fend off wolves in Russia

Children walking to school in a region of Russia have been armed with axes because of the fear of attacks by wolf packs and bears. The students have to walk through a snow-covered forest because no bus is provided to get them from their home village of Verkhny Nugush to their classes in Galiakberovo, in oil-rich Bashkortostan. But recently a wolf emerged in front of them causing the children to flee in terror back to Galiakberovo. Now they are routinely armed with axes for their dangerous walk while education chiefs ponder providing a bus or other solutions to pick them up and avoid the treacherous forest. A video shows them dicing with death on their way to school, with one of the children holding the axe to fend off wolves. One mother said: 'When our children were walking home, a wolf came out just in front of them. 'The kids were horrified and ran all the way back. Another woman and I walked to pick up the children later, with axes and torches in our hands.' Verkhny Nugush has a population of only 60 and when the village school was closed the children were forced to walk around six miles to classes in neighbouring Galiakberovo...more