The Forest Department on Tuesday early morning captured the fifth wolf and took it to a rescue shelter. So far five wolves have been caught. There is one wolf still at large. Earlier, four wolves were captured under "Operation Bhediya". Officials however had ruled incorrect sighting reports have led to difficulties in launching immediate searches.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ajit Pratap Singh said, "We have caught the fifth wolf...One is left, we will catch that wolf also soon...We are trying our best every day to catch the left wolf..." Earlier, he had said, "We receive reports of wolves being sighted in 10-15 different places, and at other times, two, four or six... In reality, there could have be none (in an area)". This causes undue pressure for immediate searches. However, our decisions are made based on our discretion," he said.
Renu Singh, Chief Forest Conservator of Central Zone says, "This is a huge success. Four wolves were captured earlier and one more was caught today. So, we have rescued 5 wolves so far. DFO and his team have done this. This is very interesting because we received information yesterday that it lifted a goat in Nathuwapur. Tracing its pug marks, we set up nets and waited because the rescue operation could not have taken place at night."
"We carried out the operation in morning and captured it early morning...We changed our strategy because it was changing its behaviour. Earlier, we used to fly the drone right on top of a wolf and pick it. But they got smarter and started running away as soon as they spotted the drone. This time, we located, saw the pug marks but we stopped the drone in final operation...We then picked it up...One more wolf remains and we will make all the efforts to rescue it at the earliest...It will be sent to a zoo...," she added.
Why wolves are attacking?
An invasion of wolves is keeping the forest authorities on their toes in Bahraich, where the animal is suspected to have killed at least six people and wounded several, all within a very short span. The Uttar Pradesh forest department has so far trapped five wolves, but the animal attacks have continued despite multiple teams casting a dragnet across a 75 square kilometre area in the district near Nepal border. There is only a studied speculation about what has suddenly made wolves so aggressive that they have begun invading human settlements, terrorising 15,000 people from 50 villages of Mahsi tehsil of Bahraich.
