Directions: Five coherent statements are given below. Rearrange them into a logical sequence and answer the question that follows.

(A) In the post-war era, the state placed primary focus on industrial expansion across regional territories.

(B) A newly passed environmental bill aims to reintroduce forty gray wolves into the national sanctuary by importing them from Canada.

(C) Although uncontrolled poaching severely threatened the apex predator, the loss of contiguous woodland territory significantly accelerated its disappearance.

(D) The objective of this restoration program is to reinstate the historic ecological balance while establishing an interconnected metapopulation of wolves.

(E) This rapid industrial growth required extensive forest clearance, which directly eroded the wolf's natural hunting grounds.

Which of the following will be the first statement after rearrangement?

Correct Answer: C

To identify the correct first statement, let us analyze the context, structure, and logical connections among the given sentences:

1. Establishing the Topic — Statement (C):
"Although uncontrolled poaching severely threatened the apex predator, the loss of contiguous woodland territory significantly accelerated its disappearance."
Statement (C) acts as an independent opening statement. It introduces the overarching subject—the decline and disappearance of the apex predator due to territorial loss and poaching—without relying on any mandatory predecessor pronouns or context.

2. Providing Historical Context — Statement (A):
"In the post-war era, the state placed primary focus on industrial expansion across regional territories."
Statement (A) introduces the historical background, explaining the root cause behind the regional territory shifts that led to the habitat destruction highlighted in statement (C).

3. Connecting Cause to Effect — Statement (E):
"This rapid industrial growth required extensive forest clearance, which directly eroded the wolf's natural hunting grounds."
The phrase "This rapid industrial growth" directly links back to the "industrial expansion" mentioned in statement (A), detailing how industrialization led to forest clearance and habitat loss for the wolf.

4. Introducing the Modern Solution — Statement (B):
"A newly passed environmental bill aims to reintroduce forty gray wolves into the national sanctuary by importing them from Canada."
After explaining the historical problem (C → A → E), the paragraph transitions to the contemporary response: a new bill to reintroduce the gray wolves.

5. Elaborating on the Solution — Statement (D):
"The objective of this restoration program is to reinstate the historic ecological balance while establishing an interconnected metapopulation of wolves."
The phrase "this restoration program" explicitly refers to the reintroduction initiative introduced in statement (B).

Complete Logical Order: C → A → E → B → D

Hence, Statement (C) is the first statement after logical rearrangement.