Nilgiri Langur strays into Kulasekaram town fringes, triggers monkey fever fears
A Nilgiri Langur from nearby forest, that has strayed into few areas of Kulasekaram in the fringe localities of Kanniyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary, keep screaming at the sight of women and children scaring them by trying to bite.
Kanniyakumari has about 32 per cent of forests, lying at the tail-end of the Western Ghats, a bio-diversity hotspot with a wide diversity of fauna and flora. However, the bonnet monkey population often intrudes into the forest peripheries in towns and villages creating heavy damage and destruction to residential huts, small houses and agricultural crops.
Adding to the woes, the Langur has entered the town and it poses impending danger to the residents, Davidson Sargunam, Member, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for Ecosystem Management in South Asia, said on Sunday.
Many of the viruses were created by zoonotic diseases such as anthrax, bird flu, bovine flu, rabis, and SARS. ‘Monkey fever’ is transmitted from monkeys through Kyasanur virus originated from Karnataka in 1957. There are immense possibilities of virus transmission from monkeys to humans, especially Haemaphysalis spinigera, he told DT Next.
While citizens had been facing risky challenges from the global pandemic created by the coronavirus, it is better that the Langur is captured and released into its habitat to avoid untoward incidents of a zoonotic outbreak of another viral disease. The Langur is categorized in the Vulnerable List of IUCN Red List that needs utmost care and protection in conservation.
Davidson also recalled that there were 12 reported deaths due to monkey fever from November 2018 in Karnataka and the government should impart adequate education and sensitise people on the viral fever.