Forest department shooters on Saturday evening gunned down a wolf, which allegedly had carried away a four-year-old girl from a village two days ago, officials said.
According to the forest department, Jahnvi, was playing outside her house in Lodhanpurwa village when the wolf carted off with her. The child has been missing since Thursday morning.
The region has been witnessing a series of wolf attacks since September 9 in villages under Kaiserganj and Mahsi tehsils. According to official figures, six children and an elderly couple have been killed so far, while 31 people have been injured.
The wolf's pugmarks were found near a river about 1 km from the village. A search operation involving drones, expert trackers and shooters had been underway.
Around 4.30 pm on Saturday, a wolf was spotted during a search operation in Lodhanpurwa village, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ram Singh Yadav said.
"We tried to rescue it about a kilometre away from the incident site, but when it could not be captured, a department shooter fired at it," Yadav said.
The wolf died from the gunshot, he said. The carcass has been sent for post-mortem.
Following rising cases of animal attacks, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath conducted an aerial survey on September 27 and directed that wolves be rescued safely but if needed, they could be neutralised.
Four wolves have been killed by forest officials since September 28.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
