Bahraich. A team of the forest department on Thursday caught a wolf from a pack of wolves that has become synonymous with terror in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh. So far seven people have died in the attack of this pack that has caused terror in the area. According to a statement issued by the forest department, wolves have terrorized the residents of more than 35 villages and today the local people have heaved a sigh of relief after a wolf was caught. The statement said that two other wolves from the pack are being searched for, so far four wolves have been caught.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has praised the efforts of forest department officials for ensuring the safety of the local community. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Sanjay Srivastava said the wolf was first spotted by a thermal imaging drone at 11 pm on Wednesday.
He said, “On Thursday morning at around 5 am, surveillance was done again with the help of drones. Footprints of the wolf were seen and after a lot of hard work, the local forest department officials successfully caught the wolf in Sisayya village at around 10.45 am. The search for two other wolves is still on.” Srivastava said that the team resorted to physico-chemical immobilization and successfully caught the wolf using a trap.
Barabanki Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Akashdeep Badhawan, in-charge of ‘Operation Bhediya’, told PTI that the captured wolf is a fully grown male. In Bahraich, six children and a woman have died in wolf attacks in the last one and a half months. The latest attack took place in a village on the night of Monday and Tuesday. Officials said that according to the forest department, there is still uncertainty about the total number of wolves in the area.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Sanjay Srivastava said on Wednesday that 16 teams are working to catch the wolves and 12 district level officers are also deployed here. Earlier, on the instructions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Forest and Environment Minister Arun Saxena, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Department Sudhir Kumar Sharma and Srivastava reached Bahraich on Wednesday to monitor the operation.