Monkey population falls in Capital

Fri, May 16 12:45 AM

RESIDENTS CAN heave a sigh of relief as the monkey menace is all set to take a hit this year. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has claimed that till now they have put 5,200 monkeys in Asola Wildlife Sanctuary.

Officials also claim that the simian population has gone down considerably in the Capital. MCD officials say monkey catching teams from southern India have packed their bags and left because they were not able to find many monkeys in the city.

"Earlier the monkey catching teams used to catch at least 30-40 monkeys per day. Now the number has gone down as most of the times teams are sent only when a complaint is received.

Moreover, they are paid per monkey and since the population has gone down, their income has also gone down," said an MCD official. It is difficult to estimate the number of simians left in the city, as no official census of the monkey population has ever been conducted.

Vijender Gupta, chairman of the MCD Standing Committee, said, "In the last few months, the situation has improved. Though monkey menace persists, their population has definitely gone down in the city.

At this rate, we might be able to get rid of the monkey problem in the near future." Right now the civic body has a total of 10 monkey catching teams from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.

Also till date only 121 people have been fined for feeding monkeys. According to the MCD, the number of feeding cases has also gone down because of the fall in monkey population.

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