UP: 4 of Bahraich killer wolves caught, foresters sure of trapping last 2 soon

One of the three killer wolves that have terrorised villagers in UP’s Bahraich district has been caught while two others have been traced with drones. Foresters are confident of capturing them within a day or two.

The wolves have reportedly killed seven children and a woman in the region within 47 days. Some 30 people have been injured. Before these, foresters had captured three other wolves of the same pack.

Caught from sugarcane field

The one that was caught on Thursday (August 29) was trapped from a sugarcane field in Sisiya village. Foresters believes this captured male had been on the hunt for the past two months.

As many as 25 forest department teams, equipped with night-vision drones, nets, and tranquilizing guns, are conducting one of the largest hunting operations in recent years — termed Operation Bhedia.

Operation Bhedia

The team laid a trap using a goat as bait to capture the wolf, while spreading elephant dung and urine in the lanes of villages to deter the wolves by creating an illusion of the presence of elephants in the vicinity. One of the wolves was reportedly walking with a limp due to an injured left foot.

“The wolves are being tracked with the help of drones, by placing traps and cages near their dens near Kulela village of Mahsi tehsil. Two wolves were spotted in the thermal-sensor camera on Saturday. But since it was already late in the night, the teams running Operation Bhedia could not catch them. The animals are expected to be caught in a day or two,” Divisional Commissioner Shashibhushan Lal Shushil told news agency PTI.

Repeated attacks

Divisional Forest Officer Ajit Pratap Singh said the wolves are repeatedly changing their location, making it difficult to capture them.

Singh said in the Mahsi tehsil of the district, wolf attacks on humans have been happening since March. The attacks increased from July 17, during the rainy season.

On Sunday (September 1), too, a nine-year-old boy and a 55-year-old man were reportedly injured in two separate wolf attacks. Though the villagers and the District Magistrate have claimed those to be wolf attacks, the forest team is yet to verify the reports, said Shushil.

Compensation declared

The first incident took place in Pure Dildarsingh village on Saturday night when Paras (9) was sleeping outside his house, Shushil told PTI. In the other incident, Punnilal (55), who was sleeping outside his house at Dariakutti in Maikupur Gram Sabha around 4 am, was also attacked by a wolf, Sushil said.

Both are undergoing treatment in hospital and their condition is reportedly out of danger.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath sent Forest Minister Arun Kumar Saxena to the site for an on-the-spot report on the wolf attacks. A compensation of Rs 5 lakh each has been given to the families of the five deceased. The remaining two will receive the compensation once the investigation is completed, an official told PTI.

(With agency inputs)