Monkey menace at Keesara

Monkeys have ‘deserted’ their natural inhabitations and found their way into the core areas of the city like Marredpally, Mettuguda, Padmaraonagar, Tarnaka and other areas due to presence of greenery. He said that large armies of monkeys have migrated to the city from Narsapur forests in Medak district and also from the forests in Warangal district.

A pilgrimage visit to Keesara could have turned into a woeful one for the family of Sampath, if a wayward wasn’t there to rescue his five-year-old daughter. On Friday, Sampath and his family visited the Keesaragutta Temple. While his wife was inside the temple for Darshan and Sampath was busy buying tit-bits for his children, their five-year-old daughter Gayatri, was almost attacked by a monkey. A beggar at the hillock however shooed away the primate and became a lifesaver.

Over time, the physical contours of the city underwent a sea change with the area literally getting transformed into a concrete jungle. The old and spacious bungalows gave way to the high-rise apartments and consequently, the number of dwellers also increased manifold. Yet many localities in the city could not get rid of the monkey menace. Though the city is now bereft of greenery, resulting in the loss of fruit-bearing trees, the monkey menace had been plaguing residents of areas like Keesara, Tarnaka and Marredpally, for quite a number of years.

Just after the crack of dawn, screeching primates swing down from the trees and set out in search of their prey-food and eatables. Hopping from one house to another, spooking the inmates, monkeys in droves, begin marauding the houses whose doors are ajar.

Screams, shouts and at times, bursting of crackers to shoo away the marauding rhesus are a daily scene in many parts of the city.

It is said that swarms of monkeys sneak into the city from nearby forests in search of food and water. Though several complaints have been lodged by the denizens of Marredpally, Mettuguda, Padmaraonagar and Tarnaka, the problem is getting aggravated with each passing day. Seeing the simians unleashing a reign of terror in these areas, women and children blitz their way into their homes and shut the doors in fear. Veterinary Assistant Director, GHMC North Zone, Dr L Govardhan Reddy blames widespread deforestation for migration of monkeys to the city. He said that monkeys have ‘deserted’ their natural inhabitations and found their way into the core areas of the city like Marredpally, Mettuguda, Padmaraonagar, Tarnaka and other areas due to presence of greenery. He said that large armies of monkeys have migrated to the city from Narsapur forests in Medak district and also from the forests in Warangal district.

Dr Govardhan Reddy, said on receiving complaints from the dwellers, monkey catching personnel swing into action and arrange for monkey traps. However, he said that ‘hardcore’ monkeys escape the trap and flee the place.

It is learnt that the GHMC may go in for some advanced versions of traps to ensure even hardest of the hardcore monkeys find it difficult to escape. It is said that a stray animal pond at Jeedimetla has the capacity to hold about 150 monkeys. Here the monkeys are segregated and sterlised and kept till the forest department officials give nod for release in the wilds. Appoximately, about 1000monkeys said to be 'active' in localities under the North Zone GHMC.

Sources said that there is a plan to use tranquillisers under the supervision of the Nehru Zoo and forest department officials.

Oral sterilisation

Officials in some of India's major cities, who have been fighting a losing battle to control troops have decided to take drastic action: They are putting them on the pill. Or at least oral contraceptives are part of a strategy that also will involve outright sterilisation of thousands of rhesus monkeys.

In case you're inclined to discount the seriousness of the problem, The Telegraph points out that in 2007, Delhi's Deputy Mayor SS Bajwa was killed when he fell from his balcony as he was trying to fight off a determined onslaught from the pesky primates.

"The population is increasing in the cities; they are causing a disturbance," said professor P.C. Tyagi of the Wildlife Institute of India. "People can't come out of their houses; they're taking clothes, biting people."

Monkeys even tried to spoil Vice President Joe Biden's photo op during a stop at the Gandhi Memorial in New Delhi this summer.

The Telegraph reports that it's gotten worse in the past year since "monkey catchers" in the capital were forbidden from using black-faced langur monkeys to scare away the smaller macaques.

So, India's Central Zoo Authority, in collaboration with the National Primate Center in California, developed a strategy with the Wildlife Institute of India to use oral contraceptives, female sterilization and vasectomies.

A pilot project will be started in the northern state of Uttarakhand and "depending on its success we will scale it up in other states battling monkey menace," B S Bonal, member secretary of the Central Zoo Authority, told a news daily.

"While monkeys that can be captured are proposed to be sterilised, oral contraceptives mixed in food are being considered for roaming troops of monkeys," he said.

(With inputs from Hemanth Pusthay)