GURGAON: Residents of Sector-56 are a troubled lot, harassed by a group of monkeys for the last three months. Over 150 monkeys have made the locality their home in past few weeks.
They randomly enter houses in search of food. In some cases, residents have been injured by these monkeys, said a resident of Anasals society.
To shoo them away, residential colonies have hired langur walas. Residents say that normally monkeys enter homes during morning and evening hours.
We are forced to keep all windows and doors shut. Two days ago, I forgot to lock the door and three monkeys entered my house. They opened the fridge and spoiled all the food. My daughter was so scared that she cried for hours, said Sudha Bhimsariya, a resident.
Residents have urged civic authorities to start a drive to catch these monkeys and shift them to open areas.
But owners of trained langurs are making the most out of the opportunity and ranking in moolah: Langur owners are charging us as much as Rs5000 for every langur. Till the time administration helps us, we have no other option but to pay them, said a RWA member.
Some residents said that disposal of garbage in open and absence of adequate dustbins is responsible for attracting monkeys.
D Kumar, general secretary of Skylands RWA said: Along with another society, we are paying Rs10000 per month to langur wala for this purpose. He comes during evening for a few hours to shoo away monkeys.
The Haryana government plans to take a cue from Himachal that has been quite successful in handling the simian problem despite criticism. Himachal Pradesh trained unemployed youths to sterilize thousands of wild monkeys with lasers in a bid to combat the aggressive primates who had been attacking people and raiding farms.
Conservationists condemned the plan, saying it was cruel and would not solve the problem.
Sujoy Chaudhuri, an ecologist who co-authored a report by prominent primatologists and conservationists that was submitted recently to the federal and state governments, said inexperienced youths would not be able to sterilize the monkeys properly.
"It was a ridiculous idea and what was worse, it did nothing to contain the problem and probably made it worse," said Chaudhuri.
"Can you imagine what having badly sterilized monkeys running around will do to the levels of aggression?" he said. Chaudhuri said sterilization was not an effective way to contain the monkey population
Only an effective, scientific and humane culling program, or confining the monkeys to reserves they could not escape, while providing them food would work, he said.
"So much work and thought and expertise has been put into the subject, you feel foolish," said Belinda Wright, the director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India. "The government chooses not to act on recommendations from experts and instead comes out with these absurd proposals," she said.
They randomly enter houses in search of food. In some cases, residents have been injured by these monkeys, said a resident of Anasals society.
To shoo them away, residential colonies have hired langur walas. Residents say that normally monkeys enter homes during morning and evening hours.
We are forced to keep all windows and doors shut. Two days ago, I forgot to lock the door and three monkeys entered my house. They opened the fridge and spoiled all the food. My daughter was so scared that she cried for hours, said Sudha Bhimsariya, a resident.
Residents have urged civic authorities to start a drive to catch these monkeys and shift them to open areas.
But owners of trained langurs are making the most out of the opportunity and ranking in moolah: Langur owners are charging us as much as Rs5000 for every langur. Till the time administration helps us, we have no other option but to pay them, said a RWA member.
Some residents said that disposal of garbage in open and absence of adequate dustbins is responsible for attracting monkeys.
D Kumar, general secretary of Skylands RWA said: Along with another society, we are paying Rs10000 per month to langur wala for this purpose. He comes during evening for a few hours to shoo away monkeys.
The Haryana government plans to take a cue from Himachal that has been quite successful in handling the simian problem despite criticism. Himachal Pradesh trained unemployed youths to sterilize thousands of wild monkeys with lasers in a bid to combat the aggressive primates who had been attacking people and raiding farms.
Conservationists condemned the plan, saying it was cruel and would not solve the problem.
Sujoy Chaudhuri, an ecologist who co-authored a report by prominent primatologists and conservationists that was submitted recently to the federal and state governments, said inexperienced youths would not be able to sterilize the monkeys properly.
"It was a ridiculous idea and what was worse, it did nothing to contain the problem and probably made it worse," said Chaudhuri.
"Can you imagine what having badly sterilized monkeys running around will do to the levels of aggression?" he said. Chaudhuri said sterilization was not an effective way to contain the monkey population
Only an effective, scientific and humane culling program, or confining the monkeys to reserves they could not escape, while providing them food would work, he said.
"So much work and thought and expertise has been put into the subject, you feel foolish," said Belinda Wright, the director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India. "The government chooses not to act on recommendations from experts and instead comes out with these absurd proposals," she said.
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