No monkey death due to starvation at Asola: Committee report

No monkey died of starvation at the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary here, a preliminary inquiry by a committee probing the condition of simians at the facility has found.
The committee was constituted by the Delhi LG to probe reports that the monkeys were allegedly not fed from December 4 to in the sanctuary.
"The Committee, during the course of the inquiry, got the entire sanctuary combed but did not find any carcass. Also, when animals die, vultures feed on the decaying flesh. But no such incident was noticed," said a senior Delhi government official
A report in this regard will be submitted to the LG soon, the official said.

On January 8, the Committee had sought the opinion of Iqbal Malik, a primatologists and an ethologist, who stated that the diet given to monkeys is only to supplement their regular diet.
It forms about 20-22 per cent of their diet as monkeys forage mostly for food and "are too smart to starve," she said.

"Monkeys are extremely adaptable mammals who feed on hundreds of things like leaves, flowers, ants, birds, buds, eggs, insects etc. They can easily venture out of the sanctuary to forage in neighbouring areas.
"In this case, these monkeys were not kept in a cage. They were in a natural habitat which was not even covered. Also there are water bodies. No carcasses have been found, so it is unlikely that they have starved to death due to non-availability of food," Malick told PTI.

"They are capable of surviving without people giving them food, if the area is surrounded by a green and thriving natural habitat," Malick stated in her report.
The report further says that "the alleged reduction in numbers of rhesus monkeys in Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary could only be a perceived notion as no scientific population study has ever been undertaken."
"Monkeys might have migrated out or they might have died due to illness or death, but this can only be determined upon the recovery of bodies or carcasses. Here it has been pointed out no carcasses have been recovered, also animals such as dogs or wolves will not be able to eat them," she said.