Villagers in the Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh reportedly killed the last wolf of a pack of six wolves on Saturday night, ending the three-month-long operation ‘Operation Bhedia’ to nab the pack.
The killing of the last wolf has brought relief to around three dozen villages in the Mahasi Block of the district at the Indo-Nepal border.
The possible last wolf, reportedly killed by villagers while preying on a goat, was found dead outside of Tamajpur village of Mahsi block.
The pack killed eight people including seven children and injured more than 50 people in the past few months. The forest department had deployed a 16-team consisting of over 200 staff, community members, wildlife enthusiasts, and daily wage labourers to nab the pack.
According to State officials, three months long operation costs over Rs 50 lakh where main expenses were for roping in of thermal drones, food of local staff and community members, daily wage labourers and arrangement of prey such as goats and others.
Experts say flooding in nearby rivers have flooded their habitats which pushed these wolves near to human habitats.
According to the Divisional Forest Officer of Bahraich district, Ajeet Pratap Singh, the rest of the five wolves have already been nabbed. Out of which one died during the operation and rest of the four were kept in Lucknow and Gorakhpur zoo.
“We got information late evening on October 5 that the possible lone wolf, which was also injured, is in a field along with its dead prey goat outside of Tamajpur village,” said Singh.
According to officials, the dead wolf injured neck with a sharp weapon and blood profusely oozed out.
“We reached the site and sent the body of the wolf for postmortem to know the cause of death and an FIR will be filed after that,” he further adds.
Meanwhile, Wolf is protected under Schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act and Globally, it is also prominently listed under CITES Appendix 1.
Yellowish brown in colour with black patches, Indian wolves weigh around 17 to 25 kg, prefer to live in open forests and scrubland and their numbers range between 2000-3000.
They prey upon mid-sized animals such as chinkara, black buck, rabbits, rodents and sometimes they try to steal sheep and goats from human settlements. The pack is always led by alpha males and females to raise their kids and protect their territory.
Dr Abhishek Ghoshal of Wildlife Trust of India said human persecution of wolves due to misconceptions like howling is considered as bad omens.
“Culturally, wolves were always presented in a negative light despite knowing the fact that their natural prey was reduced which made them attracted to domesticated animals in villages,” said Ghosal. He further adds that there is no dedicated programme in India for the conservation of wolves.
Timeline of catching Bahraich wolves which killed seven children, one woman and injured over 40 people.
Two wolves died in the process of catching while the other four shifted to Lucknow and Gorakhpur Zoo.
March 10 - A three-year-old girl child was killed by wolf
March 28 - A one-year-old kid was killed by wolf.
July 17 - After a series of wolf attack incidents, Uttar Pradesh Govt launched ‘OpertionBhediya’ to nab a pack of wolves.
August 2 - The First Wolf caught died due to heart attack
August 8 - The Second Wolf was caught
August 18 - The Third Wolf was caught
August 29 - The Fourth Wolf was caught
September 10 - The Fifth Wolf nabbed
October 5 - Sixth Wolf's body recovered
