Context: In a bid to catch wolves that are targeting children and villagers in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich, the forest department has initiated an innovative effort ‘Project Bhediya’ to catch the wolves.

About ‘Project Bhediya’

• The Bahraich region has been plagued by a series of attacks by man-eating wolves, prompting the Uttar Pradesh government to launch ‘Project Bhediya’ to catch the wolves roaming free in Mahsi Tehsil area.

• The operation, aimed at capturing the man-eating wolves responsible for several attacks, has successfully caught four wolves, but the community remains frustrated due to the continued threat.

Strategies applied under this operation

• Use colourful teddy dolls soaked in children’s urine as bait to capture them.

• Life-size dolls in colourful attire, sprinkled with the urine of children placed strategically in the now-identified path generally taken by the wolves, will now help catch the elusive animals linked to the killing of nine people in Bahraich.

• The cages have been given a look to give the wolf an impression as if a child is sitting or sleeping there. As soon as the animal closes in, we will catch it.

• Wolves have a tendency to return to their den in the evening and prey at night. “We are working on a strategy keeping this habit of the wolves in mind and with human effort on the ground the thermal drones in the sky round-the-clock.

About Indian Gray Wolf

• Scientific Name: Canis lupus pallipes

• Description: Intermediate in size, positioned between the Tibetan and Arabian wolf.

• Habitat: Found in areas with scrub, grasslands, and semi-arid pastoral agro-ecosystems.

• Distribution: Widely distributed from the Indian subcontinent to Israel.

• Conservation Status:-

• IUCN: Least Concern

• Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972: Schedule I

• CITES : Appendix 1