Wolf captured near tourist part of Great Wall

BEIJING (Reuters) - A wolf has been captured by forestry workers near a part of China's Great Wall close to Beijing which is popular with tourists, state media said on Thursday.

The wolf is being kept at a nature park and will be released in uninhabited mountains far from the Wall, Xinhua news agency said.

It was captured close to the Badaling section, it said, a restored part of the Wall many tour groups visit.

Sightings of the wolf prior to its capture had caused "widespread fear," the report said.

"We were certain the wolf was alone. Probably it left its companions to search for food," Xinhua quoted a forestry worker as saying.

"We wouldn't have interfered had it been seen in a remote place," he said. "But this time we cannot put the safety of the Great Wall visitors at risk."

While wolves are believed to have vanished from the Beijing area in the 1950s, about 20 are still thought to live in the mountains to the north of the city, Xinhua said.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Sugita Katyal)