Another wolf has been captured from a Bahraich village in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday morning, thanks to swift action of the Forest Department officials. Around seven people, mostly women, have been killed by the wolves in the villages of the UP district.

After the capture of the wolf, the most ferocious of the four wolves caught so far, that had struck terror among the residents of over 35 villages; the local population took a big sigh of relief.

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Of the four wolves caught so far from the Bahraich area, the latest is set to be relocated to Gorakhpur Zoo.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath commended the efforts of the Forest Department officials to ensure the safety of the local community.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Sanjay Srivastava, informed that the wolf was first detected by a thermal drone at 11 pm on Wednesday night. “It was monitored again through a drone around 5 am the following morning. After spotting the footprints of the wolf, local Forest Department officials sprang into action and after much effort, successfully captured the wolf from the floodplain of Sisayya village at around 10:45 am. The search for two other wolves is on,” he said.

“Drone mapping was carried out, and efforts were made throughout the day on Wednesday. By continuously tracking its movements, the wolf’s location was identified from its footprints on Thursday morning. The team then resorted to physico-chemical immobilization and successfully captured the wolf using a net,” he added.

Earlier, following the instructions of Chief Minister Adityanath, Forest and Environment Minister Dr. Arun Saxena, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Department Sudhir Kumar Sharma, and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Sanjay Srivastava arrived in Bahraich on Wednesday.

After visiting the affected villages and reassuring the residents of safety, the forest minister confirmed that the department’s team was fully equipped to capture the wolf, with the chief minister personally overseeing the situation. Within 24 hours of the minister’s arrival, the man-eater was successfully captured.

After considerable effort, the hard work of the Forest Department bore fruit. The dedicated efforts of the team, who have been working for several weeks, proved successful. Additional Principal Chief Conservator Renu Singh remained on-site throughout, while Bahraich’s DFO Ajit Singh, Devipatan’s Forest Conservator Manoj Sonkar, the campaign’s nodal officer, and Barabanki’s DFO Akash Badhavan, along with their teams, were all consistently prepared to carry out Operation Bhediya.