Humans have tried everything. Laid traps. Set up cages. Fly drones. Fired crackers. But the wolves are not ready to give up. There is still panic in the wolf-infested villages of Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh. Along with the police and the forest department, sharp shooters are also patrolling day and night. Sometimes on foot, sometimes on bikes, and sometimes in boats, they are measuring distances. You never know when and where a wolf will be seen in a corner and then killed.
A pack of wolves has been attacking people in about 35 villages of Bahraich for the past two months. They are killing children. The forest department has made all efforts and caught four out of six wolves, but two wolves are still roaming around freely. Now the situation is such that the forest department wants to catch these wolves dead or alive. Because the freedom of these wolves means taking away the freedom of humans. But the wolves are not getting caught.
In such a situation, a team of Aaj Tak reached the wolf-infested villages at midnight. Took stock of the situation there. At around 12.45 at night, Aaj Tak’s team reached Piparia village in Bahraich. There it was found that the villagers have found a new way to protect themselves. There are 6 people in a house, out of which 3 are awake and 3 are sleeping. Family members say that they are sleeping in shifts to avoid the wolf. So that the family can be protected.
SHO Upendra Kumar said that the police team is continuously patrolling the affected villages. As soon as any activity is seen, the police alerts the forest department. The team reached Kewalpur village at around 1:30 in the night. There a family was sleeping outside the house. The police team immediately explained to them and sent them inside the house. They reached Manjha Dariya village at around 2 o’clock. The people here appeared more alert than before. The cots kept outside were empty. People were sleeping safely inside the house.
The Forest Department of Uttar Pradesh has started putting up big banners to make people aware in wolf-infested areas of Bahraich. Footprints of wolf, jackal, hyena, tiger and leopard have been shown in the banners so that there is no confusion among the villagers about the identity of the animal. Along with this, a long list of what to do and what not to do in wolf-infested areas has also been put up. The Forest Department is constantly trying to catch the wolves.
About 250 people from the forest department are constantly camping in the wolf-affected villages. Surveillance and patrolling is going on day and night. Drone cameras with thermal imaging systems are scanning the surrounding area. The effort is that if a pair of wolves is seen roaming around, they should be surrounded and killed. At present, it has been almost two months since Bahraich has been scared of wolves. Operation Bhedia is still going on.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)