'Let Delhi government's wildlife department catch monkeys'

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Wednesday approached the Delhi High Court seeking to be relieved from the responsibility of catching monkeys which have been creating a menace in many localities.

The civic agency, which had been directed by the high court in March 2007 to do the job of catching the monkeys and relocating them near Asola Bhatti Mines Sanctuary, has been fighting a losing battle.

The civic agency pleaded that dealing with the monkey menace is the subject matter of the Wildlife Department of the Delhi government.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangeeta Dhingra Sehgal posted the application filed by SDMC for consideration on February 27.

In an application, filed through advocate Rajan Tyagi, SDMC said it has not been able to find trained monkey catchers despite several advertisements in the newspapers.

Even after the enhancement of the rate for trapping of monkeys from Rs 800 to Rs 1,200 per monkey the corporation got no response.

"In spite of the efforts made by SDMC, no monkey catcher has turned up to undertake this work and at present no monkey catcher is available with the corporation for trapping of monkeys. This has resulted in a lot of difficulty in dealing with the problem of monkey menace in the area under its jurisdiction and in turn compliance of the court order."

Seeking modification to the March 14, 2007 high court order, the SDMC said the job of catching monkeys comes within the purview of provisions of Wildlife (Protection) Act as the monkey is a protected animal under the act.

SDMC said many of the rehabilitated monkeys in Asola Bhati Mines Sanctuary have started creating trouble in nearby residential areas.

It said the rehabilitated monkeys are migrating to adjoining residential areas, schools, hospitals and causing a menace.

The agency has several times requested the Wildlife Department of Delhi government to provide training to the monkey catchers and staff of SDMC in regard to more humane/animal friendly methods of catching monkeys but the request has not been facilitated, said the application.

The SDMC said it also requested the wildlife departments of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan to provide monkey catchers but no response from these states have been received.

--IANS

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