A wolf, part of a pack which has allegedly killed at least seven people, being taken in a cage after it was captured, in Bahraich district, Thursday, Aug 29, 2024. The Uttar Pradesh government launched 'Operation Bhediya' to capture the pack of wolves in the district.
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: A forest department team on Thursday captured a male wolf, part of a pack of six wolves, which killed seven people in the past one and half month in Mehsi tehsil in Uttar Pradesh’s Baharaich district, about 200 kilometres from here.
According to the forest officials, the wolf was caught after a three-day ‘Operation Bhedia’ (operation wolf) conducted by two dozen forest department teams equipped with vision drones, tranquiliser guns and nets, from the sugar cane fields near Sisiya village in the district.
The team, carrying a cage, had laid a trap and the wolf was captured around 11 in the morning.
The officials said that four wolves had so far been captured of which two died. The remaining were sent to the Zoo. ‘’Two wolves are still to be captured,’’ said a senior forest official in Baharaich.
According to the sources seven people have so far been killed by the wolves. Chief forest conservator Ranu Singh, however, confirmed five deaths and said that two other reports of deaths were not yet confirmed.
‘’We have deployed our teams…the teams will remain in Baharaich until all the killer wolves are captured,’’ she added. A local official said that wolves were seen at four different places in Mehsi tehsil on Tuesday night.
District officials said that doors were being installed at houses where there were no doors. Toilets were also being constructed in the affected villages. ‘’We are installing solar lights in all such villages,’’ said an official.
Sources said that the parents had stopped sending their children to the schools after the killings. Some people had sent their children to their relatives’ homes. The women were not allowed to go out at night.
According to the locals, the killer wolves were active in the area where two wolf pups were crushed under the wheels of a tractor during ploughing a field a few months back.