Monkeys move to rural areas amid lockdown in HP

The coronavirus pandemic--apart from affecting human beings and businesses around the world--is now causing problems to monkeys as well.

Monkeys in Himachal Pradesh have started heading out from urban areas of the state to rural areas and forests in search of food amid the national lockdown.

Kuldeep Singh Tanwar president, Himachal Kisan Sabha said that ever since the temples were shut and there was a clampdown on tourism the monkeys started moving to rural areas.

Madan Sharma, a priest at the Jakhu Temple said that for the last 40 years there used to be an army of monkeys but now there are almost none to be seen.

"Very few or no monkeys can be seen as they do not get anything to eat, which could be the reason why they went elsewhere," said the priest.

But this is a cause of concern to the farmers.

Kuldeep Singh Tanwar said, "Crops are being damaged by the monkeys in vegetable growing areas. In the last three years, monkeys have been declared a vermin in 92 tehsils. We've demanded that the state government should do the same for the entire state."

"This is the right time to push the monkeys back to forests but at the same time the government must also set up feeding centres for them," Tanwar added.

Onkar Chand Sharma, Principal Secretary Agriculture Department, Government of Himachal Pradesh said: "Monkeys have already been declared as vermin. Since there is very little to no involvement of the Agriculture Department, we can only request the forest department to take appropriate measures."

India's tally of COVID-19 cases stands at 5,194 cases, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday. Out of 5194 cases, 4,643 are reported to be active while 401 people have recovered/discharged and one migrated. The death toll in the country is 149.