Eco task force for scientific culling of monkeys in Himachal

An eco task force will be constituted for scientific culling of monkeys declared as vermin in Himachal Pradesh as the religious sentiments hinder people from killing the simians, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said today.
The announcement was made in a high-powered committee meeting for Wild Animal and Monkey Menace chaired by the Chief Minister.
Singh said the focus should be on areas where concentration of monkeys was more as they have been causing much damage to crops and fruits, besides attacking women and children in particular.
The government has decided to open 'Rescue Centre for Life Care' near Shimla, he said.

Suggesting that another task force should be constituted for dealing with monkeys on the national highways, villages and cities, the Chief Minister said oral contraceptives should also be tried as a measure to control reproduction of monkeys.
Asha Kumari, Secretary, All India Congress Committee (AICC) suggested steps to be taken for feeding monkeys on the highways, adding that inspite of a law being in place, no action was taken against permanent points along with the highways, where groups of monkeys were fed which could lead to major mishaps.

She said a permanent solution was required to deal with the menace of monkeys and other wild animals creating havoc.

Additional Chief Secretary Tarun Kapoor said to identify the sterilized monkeys, permanent tattooing was being done on the foreheads of the animals, adding that mobile monkey sterilisation units would be very useful when made operational.
He said 'Rescue Centre for Life Care' would come up near Shimla having the capacity to house around 1,000 rogue and sterilized monkeys.
Kapoor said a list of 53 tehsils and sub-tehsils had been sent to the Ministry of Environment (MoEF) wherein monkeys could be declared as vermin, thus providing relief to farmers and horticulturists.
He said a joint survey would be conducted with the Wild Life Institute of India, (WII) Dehradun to declare wild boar, Sambar and Nilgai as vermins.

Principal Chief Conservator Forest, Wild Life S K Sharma said that as many as 1,25,266 monkeys have been sterilized till March this year out of the total estimated population of 2,07,614 (as per a survey conducted in 2015).
He said the Rapid Response Teams (RRT) at each circle level headed by Divisional Forest Officer would be provided with tranquilizing guns to sterilise monkeys.