Himachal finalises strategy to deal with monkey menace

SHIMLA, January 1: The Himachal Pradesh Government has finalised a broad-strategy to deal with monkey menace in Shimla and other rural to...

SHIMLA, January 1: The Himachal Pradesh Government has finalised a broad-strategy to deal with monkey menace in Shimla and other rural towns of the state. The twin departments of agriculture and animal husbandry are being especially geared up to implement the strategy.

The decisions to relieve the Shimlaites and other agricultural families in some of the monkey-infested villages were taken at a high level meeting last month following a series of representations received by the government asking for an immediate solution to the monkey menace. Much of the government8217;s problem in fact had been solved by the decision of the Forest Department allowing killing of the monkeys, if they cause damage to the standing crops, fruits and vegetables.

In Shimla, the strategy would be slightly different. 8220;No killing will be allowed in the urban towns because here the nature of the problem is quite different from that of the rural areas,8221; says a senior official. The problem in the towns particularly Shimla was linked to sudden spurt in the population of the monkeys. The official says, 8220;The strategy here would be to control their population using some scientific methods but without any element of cruelty against the animals.8221;

The state Agriculture Department had been advised to engage monkey catchers from Uttar Pradesh and then get the services of the Animal Husbandry Department to sterialise them. The funds would also be provided to the department for this job. Entire monkey catching operation would be done under supervision of the activists from the organisations working on cruelty against the animals. The government also proposes to consult Santosh Kumar Sahoo, a research scientist currently working on the Indo-US project on the monkey population in Himachal Pradesh.

There had also been serious thinking in some groups of elderly citizens to devise new acceptable ways for dealing with the problem of monkey menace. The Shimla Amateur Gardes and Environment Society SAGES, in its meetings had also formed a separate groups headed by the body8217;s president R.S.S. Chauhan, a retired technocrat, to formulate a set of suggestions for handing the same to the government for its adoption.

Chauhan told The Indian Express that problem in Shimla had already assumed an alarming proportion and needed immediate solution. 8220;Some of the suggestions are already under consideration but there are doubts about its workability,8221; he informed.

The government, at its level, has also written to the Agriculture University at Palampur to start work in Kangra district and other peripheral areas for dealing with the problem. The monkeys had caused immense losses to the farmers in some of the districts like Solan, Hamirpur, Bilaspur, Sirmaur Mandi and Chamba destroying the standing crops and vegetable fields.

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According to the Forest Department, the divisional forest officers had been empowered by the government to give permits to aggrieved farmers for shooting the monkeys in their fields. The Wildlife Protection Act also had provisions to permit killing of the dangerous animals. The government admits that the monkeys8217; problem had really assumed a serious dimension and needed a solution.