Stray monkey triggers chaos, injures boy; rescued

We briefly halted the search operation,” said Rakesh Hirapara, director of RZP. The monkey was again spotted in the AG Society near Prem Mandir an hour later.

“At around 1:30 pm, locals called again that the macaque had attacked some people, including a boy. The animal hid inside the Lord Shiva temple. Locals then closed the gate of the temple. We rushed to the spot. It seemed agitated, so we tranquilised it and rescued it,” Hirapara further said. A joint team of RZP and the Gujarat Forest Department carried out the rescue operation.

Girirajsinh Rathod, a local, said children and adults gathered to see the monkey (rhesus macaque). “But it seemed agitated. As children gathered, the animal attacked them near the Omkareshwar Mahadev temple in our society, injuring one of them,” Rathod said.

“We used water and bananas to lure it to the temple. As it entered the temple, we closed its gates and restricted it,” he added.

The injured boy was identified as Sachin. His parents, who are construction labourers, were working at a site in the AG Society. “The boy was bitten in the thigh. We rushed him to the Civil Hospital,” Rathod further said.

The macaque, a fully-grown male, was shifted to the Pradyuman Park Zoo. “It seems to be an escapee as Rajkot doesn’t fall in their present habitat range,” Hirapara said.