Tough to cope with marauding monkeys
OUT OF CONTROL The cheeky animals strut about the city, invading kitchens, destroying gardens and tearing clothes. Their population is increasing rapidly but a permanent solution is still awaited
LUCKNOW: An apex institute, some local residents and the Northern Railway here have one thing in common: they all either deploy a tamed langoor or use its voice to scare away aggressive monkeys.
The recent spate of attacks by rampaging monkeys in the city is a cause of worry for the residents, so much so that the forest department’s Indira Nagar control room gets calls every day.
“There isn’t a day without calls. Be it Indira Nagar, Aliganj, Gomti Nagar, Mahanagar or any other area, marauding monkeys have been harassing people everywhere,” said Ayodhya Prasad, senior forest officer of Lucknow division.
In fact, the largest number of complaints at the cell pertains to monkeys and snakes and the least to crocodiles.
“Monkeys uproot flowers, eat petals and roots and leave behind mud, broken pot and ravaged plants,” said Kamal, a gardening enthusiast.
The aggressive beasts also raid kitchens and snatch food. They scatter the litter on the balcony or the roof before leaving. “The worst thing is that they tear clothes hanging outside,” said Rashmi, a resident of Vinay Khand. “Monkey population is increasing and so they are troubling residents for food as they do not find it elsewhere,” she said.
THE ISSUE OF EXISTENCE
Monkeys, experts say, have a tendency to co-exist with humans since ages. They are classified as wild animals but their existence has been close to humans. One may find them on trees eating fruits but as there are hardly any fruit-bearing trees left, they mostly wander about in search of food. Entering kitchens is a habit as the leader in the pack knows this is the place where humans keep food.
THE SOLUTION
What frequently happens is this: a call goes to the forest department. The staff arrives and catches the monkey(s). The animals caught have to be released somewhere else so that they might not trouble humans. There are three big forest spots for this, the nearest being Kukrail forest area. The other two are Sarojininagar and Mohanlalganj forest areas. As these areas also have human population just outside the forest pocket, hence the simians frequent houses in Kukrail, Sarojininagar and Mohanlalganj forest areas. They reach nearby villages and if they do not get food enough for the entire pack, they travel long distances to open fridges in buildings.
“The situation is such that if we leave monkeys in a particular forest area once, we cannot do the same next time. If we go again with a dozen monkeys there will be at least 50 villagers from the nearby village to stop us from doing so, the reason being that these monkeys invade their homes once we leave them there,” said Ayodhya Prasad.
Monkeys can reproduce every six months, hence their population grows rapidly. So the size of their pack grows from just four or five in the first year to over a dozen in the next .
THE HISTORY OF MONKEY CATCHING
Till 10 years ago, catching monkeys was the job of the municipal corporation . Once a communication between forest department and municipal corporation on finding a solution to the problem concluded that since monkeys were wild animals, hence municipal corporation should not interfere. The then Lucknow Zoo director Eva Sharma was entrusted the task of getting monkeys out of residential areas where they were creating a nuisance. . There was a separate budget for this work as it required hiring professionals, because no one in the forest department was trained to catch monkeys.
Now there is no budget for this work and if it is required to hire a private professional, the forest department manages funds from some other head .
At times, even complaints to the forest department do not yield results , particularly if it is a holiday. Hence residents themselves pay the professionals for catching and leaving monkeys away from their locality.
There isn’t a day without calls. Be it Indira Nagar, Aliganj, Gomti Nagar, Mahanagar or any other area, marauding monkeys have been harassing people everywhere AYODHYA PRASAD, senior forest officer of Lucknow division