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.
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