Monkey story in New York Times

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/world/asia/14delhi.html?_r=1 & hp & oref=slogin

 

Great long article with photo. Extract,

 

NEW DELHI, Nov. 13 ­ The authorities here managed

to do very little about the city’s soaring wild

monkey population ­ until the deputy mayor

toppled from his terrace to his death as he tried

to fend off a gang of the animals.

 

The official, Sawinder Singh Bajwa, 52, was

reading a paper on his balcony on a Sunday

morning in late October when four monkeys

appeared. As he brandished a stick to scare them

away, he lost his balance and fell, his son said...

 

Guards watching over Rashtrapati Bhavan, the

stately sandstone president’s palace, are there

as much to fend off the hundreds of monkeys that

swing from the parapets as to contend with human

intruders. At dusk, mother monkeys bathe their

infants in the ceremonial fountains, while males

fight noisily on the clipped lawns.

 

Politicians with residences in the area have

resorted to hiring private monkey catchers, men

who use a larger, dark-faced monkey, the langur,

to scare away the smaller wild ones...

 

J. K. Dadoo, the local environment and forest

secretary, put the total monkey population at a

more conservative 5,000. He said 2,000 had been

sent to the sanctuary this year, adding that the

removal process was going smoothly.

 

Wildlife advocates say the growing tension

between man and monkey arises not so much from

the animals as from humans. Just as monkeys near

the capital are losing their natural homes to

developers, so, too, are the tigers of Rajasthan and the elephants of Assam.

 

“We are continuing the deforestation so fast that

all kinds of wildlife are finding themselves

suddenly homeless,” said Ranjit Talwar, a

conservationist. “That’s why we are seeing more

attacks by tigers, leopards, monkeys and elephants.”

 

Sonya Ghosh, an animal rights campaigner advising

the government on monkey removal, said residents

should try to live in harmony with the monkeys.

 

“The only way is to ignore them,” she said.

“Never look a monkey in the eye, never raise your

eyebrows at one: it’s interpreted as a

challenge.” But she conceded that for many

people, the abundance of monkeys was an unwelcome

reminder that New Delhi was still far from its

goal of transforming itself into a world-class city.

 

“People in the new residential areas, these newly

rich, have different sensibilities,” she said.

“They want to pretend that they are living in New York.”

 

Dr. Shirley McGreal, Founder

International Primate Protection League

PO Box 766

Summerville, SC 29484, USA

Phone - 843-871-2280, Fax- 843-871-7988

 

E-mail - smcgreal, Web: www.ippl.org

Working to Protect All Primates Since 1973

 

One of the advantages of being disorderly is that

one is constantly making exciting discoveries. ~ AA Milne