Farmers Movement Archive

Shimla under lockdown, hungry monkeys head for villages, forests

Wild animals, such as leopards, sambars and even elephants, are roaming the streets of locked down cities like Chandigarh and Dehradun these days but Shimla has a different tale to tell.Twelve days into the lockdown effected to check the spread of the coronavirus disease, and Shimla, which is home to an estimated 1,900 monkeys, is seeing the simians shifting base back to forests and periphery villages.Shimla divisional forest officer, wildlife, Rajesh Sharma, says, “This is a temporary phase. They will be back once the hustle-bustle of the town returns. Over the years, the monkeys developed commensal habits by feeding on garbage, street-food waste and raiding homes. With shops, restaurants and eateries closed for almost a fortnight, their source of food has depleted.”Commensalism is a long-term biological interaction in which members of one species gain benefits, while those of the other species neither benefit nor are harmed.Of the simians, most langoors have headed back to the forest in search of food, while most monkeys have chosen to settle down in villages on Shimla’s outskirts. In the forest, monkeys become omnivores, feeding on rats and insects but in cities, they develop commensal habits, living off hand-me-downs and left-overs.MISSING FROM JAKHU!It’s strange to visit the Hanuman Temple in Shimla’s Jakhu Hills without monkeys for company. The temple priest, who performs the rituals in the absence of devotees these days, says he has never come across such a sight in his four decades at the temple.“At any given time, about 500 monkeys would roam in and around the Jakhu temple but now they have simply vanished,” says Anil Thakur, who stays near the temple and runs a travel business.The monkeys have made their way to the nearby jungle.CHALLENGE FOR FARMERSThe monkeys that frequented the Sankat Mochan temple at the entry of Shimla town have taken refuge in Rajhana village and adjoining Anandpur panchayat of 12 villages. Farmers are worried as the simians tend to feed on seasonal vegetable crops of pea, cauliflower, cabbage, radish and carrot.“These monkeys are now finding it difficult to survive. I have noticed a behavioural change in them. While most of them have shifted from Shimla town to the rural areas, those who chose to stay behind are turning aggressive,” says retired forest officer Kuldeep Singh Tanwar, who also heads the Kisan Sabha, a conglomerate of farmer bodies that ran a statewide campaign against the growing wild animal problem.VIRUS DOES WHAT GOVT COULDN’TFor three decades, the wildlife wing of the forest department struggled to curb the growing monkey population across the state, particularly in Shimla, but in vain.Besides the sterilisation drive, primate parks were set up, food zones for monkeys were notified, and even monkey watchers, armed with air guns and catapults, were appointed to scare the simians away but nothing worked.The monkeys are a problem in several localities such as Chhota Shimla, Jakhu, Sanjauli, Lower Bazaar, Brockhurst, Khalini, Annandale, Kaithu, Summer Hill, Boileauganj, Porters Hill, Observatory Hill, Lower and Main Mall Road.In 2016, the state government urged the Centre to declare monkeys vermin in Shimla and a notification was issued that allowed state forest authorities and people to cull monkeys but it never took off as simians are venerated in honour of the Hindu monkey god, Hanuman.

Hindustan Times

06-04-2020

City