Lala Kakad, a resident of Dongripada in Gorai village, who was bitten by the monkey
Residents of a tribal hamlet in Gorai, who were terrorised by a monkey that had attacked and bitten several people, including 11 children, in the last three days, finally heaved a sigh of relief as the forest department managed to trap the animal after tranquillising it on Monday.
Lala Kakad, a resident of Dongripada in Gorai village, who was bitten by the monkey said, "We have been complaining to the police for three days but no one came forward to help us. We do not know where the monkey came from but it was alone and began attacking people. I was sitting outside my house when it appeared from nowhere and jumped on me and bit me on my thigh."
Ankit Vyas, an animal rescuer who received a phone call from the police alerted the Thane territorial range and even accompanied a forest guard to the site. "The people were extremely upset. They were running behind the monkey and even attacking it with catapults, sticks and fishing nets, but it kept escaping and only got more aggressive and attacked whenever it saw people," Vyas said. He also added that people realised it was extremely difficult to trap the animal and alerted the Thane range who then asked the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) rescue team to trap the monkey.
Dr Shailesh Pethe, Veterinary Officer, SGNP who reached the spot at around noon on Monday, said, "After following it for around 20 minutes, we saw the monkey and darted towards it. We could not establish any reason as to why it was attacking people. There are chances that someone might have attacked it and thus the animal developed fear," he said adding that they will carry out a medical examination after which the monkey will be released in the jungle.
Animal experts have been warning dwellers of increasing human-monkey conflict but nothing has been done to address the issue. "It's becoming a major issue and we do not have any Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for managing this issue. This problem will only increase in the coming days. The need of the hour is to create awareness among people. They should stop feeding the monkeys and need to be informed about the repercussions," said Pawan Sharma, founder and president of Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare.
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