Veteran primatologist Mewa Singh, a professor of ecology and animal behaviour at the University of Mysore, had campaigned to restore the legal protection of species, authoring a letter to the Union Environment Minister, which was endorsed by more than 60 primate and wildlife experts. Singh spoke to The Indian Express on what this means, how this will help in managing the population of the monkeys and what can be done to manage frequently reported man-animal conflict.
Why was it important to restore the protection for the Rhesus Macaque ?
You see, what was happening was that some states had over emphasised the scale of conflict. One of the problems with non-human primates, especially Rhesus Macaques, is that they are very conspicuous.
Because of that, there is a perception that they are in large numbers, even in instances where their numbers are small. They live close to the people and hence there always be some amount of conflict. However, this conflict needs to be managed with a scientific approach and it can be minimised and co-existence can be facilitated.
Coming to the question of restoring legal protections, we had given petitions to the government on the issue because without official legal protection, their scientific management becomes difficult, and there is a threat of trafficking and cruelty, and the lack of protections can be misused. I had written a letter to the Union minister, which was signed by 60 primatologists — including experts from Germany and USA — to point out the issues due to the lack of protection.
The forest department’s role to deal with conflict issues got impacted after it was removed from Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Due to the lack of protection, even if there was a conflict, the forest department did not have a say because strictly speaking they were not protected wildlife.
So, conflict management requiring forest management intervention was missing, and the species is exploited without protections. There are also public health issues if the monkeys from urban areas are trapped and left in forests, as they can spread diseases, or they can be killed easily by other predators.
The management of this species can be divided into three categories or zones — conservation zone, or instances where they are found in forests; a co-existence zone where monkeys are in rural areas and conflict is low to moderate; and a management zone, where more intervention is needed. With the forest department and experts not in the picture, the responsibility was with municipal bodies, who have no expertise on their management.
With protections restored, local committees headed by divisional forest officers can manage their populations along with primate experts, and veterinary experts.
Rhesus monkeys are found in large numbers, so why is their protection necessary?
I would give the example of another macaque species, the Bonnet Macaque, to explain this. Rhesus Macaques are found in north India, and Bonnet Macaque is found in south India.
For 35 years, I have maintained a record of Bonnet Macaques, and without those records, it would not have been known their population had declined 82 percent. Now, the conservation status of Bonnet Macaques was ‘least concern’ and it was reclassified to ‘vulnerable a few years back’, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
If you ask the common public, they would say that since hundreds of Bonnet Macaques can be seen, why do they need protection? But in reality, their population has declined.
And this illustrates how species can lose habitats and how it can impact their population. Bonnet Macaques are not predominantly found in forests and most of their populations were on the roadside, in temples, in villages near crops. With a lot of trees along the highways gone, their numbers also dropped.
Rhesus monkeys are in large numbers, but scientific measures are needed to manage their populations.
How can conflicts be managed better?
In states such as Himachal Pradesh, where conflict has been acute, sterilisation has been adopted. There are sterilisation centres, and monkeys are trapped with a humane approach and sterilised. So, there are ways to manage them scientifically.
States also need to have data on their populations, with a proper baseline, data on frequency of conflicts, and zone of conflict to manage conflict better.
One other way of managing conflict is also to sensitize people to not feed monkeys. Feeding monkeys is a big problem, especially in urban areas, and this gives rise to conflict. If the animals are getting nutritious food like fruits and cooked items, they will never leave those areas. People need to change their behaviour and habits.
Having said that, it is also true that people face problems in the form of crop raiding and we have to take care of those problems too.
What is the significance of the Rhesus Macaque in our ecological pyramid?
They play an important role in dispersing seeds, and many trees around us are because of the seed dispersal that happens because of their foraging and usual activities. My students have done research on seed dispersal done by these monkeys and where it spreads, and it has been shown that natural regeneration has been higher where these monkeys are present, compared to where they are not. The common public is not aware of these nuances — this requires scientific investigation. The monkeys play a very important role in these dynamics of nature.
Veteran primatologist Mewa Singh, a professor of ecology and animal behaviour at the University of Mysore, had campaigned to restore the legal protection of species. 
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