'Operation Bhediya' concludes in UP's Bahraich as last wolf standing beaten to death by villagers

Bahraich: The last one of the pack of six wolves that had created terror in Mahsi tehsil has been killed by the locals in Tamachpur village of this district, officials on Sunday said.

The wolf killed late Saturday night under the Ramgaon police station area is a female and not lame as suspected earlier, they said.

The wolf's body has been sent for post-mortem, the officials said.

"Late Saturday night we got information that people had killed a wolf in Tamachpur village under Ramgaon police station of Mahsi tehsil. When we reached there, we found the dead wolf and the body of a goat. There were injury marks on the wolf's body and it was bleeding," Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ajit Pratap Singh told PTI.

"On closer inspection, we found that the dead wolf was an adult female. When we inquired, we found out that the wolf had entered the inhabited area and was carrying away a goat. On the way, the villagers surrounded and killed it. The dead wolf has been brought to the range office for post-mortem," he added.

When asked whether the killed female wolf was lame or not, the DFO said that "there was never a 'lame wolf' in the pack of man-eating wolves".

Some villagers of Tamachpur village told reporters that the wolf had tried to attack an innocent child sleeping next to his mother in the courtyard of a house in the village, but on hearing the mother's screams, the wolf ran away and attacked a goat there.

Later, the villagers surrounded the wolf and beat it to death, they said.

Earlier on September 10, a fifth wolf was captured as part of the 'Operation Bhediya' campaign that has been ongoing in Bahraich's Mahsi tehsil to catch a pack of six wolves that have killed eight people and injured more than 20 others since mid-July. Four other wolves were earlier also rescued in the district.

'Operation Bhediya' campaign is going on in the area since July 17 to capture a pack of six wolves that have been terrorising 50 villages in Mahsi tehsil of Bahraich district.

At least eight people, including seven children, have died in suspected attacks by these wolves.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had conducted an aerial inspection of the area earlier on September 15 and met families of those who lost their lives in the recent wolf attacks.

He assured the residents of Mahis tehsil that the forest department, district administration and police will continue working until the wolf threat ends.