Luring the lame one: Playing howling of female wolf may not work, says expert
Playing the recorded howling of a female wolf, to lure the lone, lame wolf, would be fruitless, a wildlife expert has said. Forest department teams were playing a female wolf’s howling in the Mahsi Tehsil area for the past three days in the belief that listening to the howling, the lame wolf would be lured and trapped.
Meanwhile, sightings of another pack of wolves has increased panic in the area.
The forest department had captured five wolves out of a pack of six wolves from the Mahsi Tehsil area and the lame one was said to be the alpha member of the pack, which was still on the loose.
Giving his opinion on the playing of howling, GP Singh, an executive consultant at Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), said that he doubted the idea would work.
Singh said that apart from using its ears, the wolf has a very sensitive nose too. A wolf can smell and differentiate man and animals from very long distances. He said that wolves have a very good sense of smell and their smell power is 100 times greater than humans. Hence, the tactic to lure a wolf only by sound may not work.
GP Singh was a part of the team which dealt with the eight-month-long wolf menace in Jaunpur district in 1997.
He said that analysing attack patterns, the team should identify potential target villages of the wolf. To trap the lone wolf, teams should be deployed according to pre-identified target villages.
Meanwhile, a pack of four wolves was said to be seen in Maigla village under Mahsi Tehsil area recently. Member of Legislative Council (MLC), Padam Sen Chaudhri, whose farmhouse is located in the village, informed divisional forest officer (DFO), Bahraich, Ajit Pratap Singh, about the pack.
The DFO said wolves were seen in Maigla area last year too and the village is about 10 to 15 km from Sisaiya Churamani village where maximum movement of wolves was reported in the past two months. Taking note of the information, a forest team was sent to the area and pugmarks of wolves were found, the DFO said.
Covering a distance of 10 to 15 km in a day was not a big deal for wolves, Singh said.
The news of a new pack in the area has increased tension among villagers. However, the DFO said it is not compulsory that all wolf packs are violent and attack humans. He said all the teams have been put on a high alert and fire crackers were being burst during night to keep the predators at bay from human settlements.
SHARIQ RAIS SIDDIQUI
