The High Court of Punjab & Haryana has asked the Chandigarh administration to carry out a survey to find out the exact population of monkeys in the city & sterilise them if the numbers were alarmingly high.

The HC bench of Justice Arun Monga was hearing a plea from one Divyam Dhakla, who had approached the Court in 2018 seeking directions to UT to deal with the monkey menace in city’s residential areas, especially in Manimajra.

The petitioner had said that residents were forced to keep themselves as well as their children indoors. Whenever parents boarded their children in school buses, monkeys attacked children for their tiffins & bottles by snatching their school bags. Monkeys even jumped all over the roofs, pelting people with stones & causing injuries. Residents were not even able to dry their clothes as monkeys snatched & tore them off. This menace was increasing only because of the negligence of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the petitioner had alleged.

Taking note of the petition, High Court sought a status report after 6 months on how many monkeys were released in the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Court held that the respondents will also do well if they set up a special monkey sterilisation centre in case the monkey population is alarmingly high. For this, a census will have to be carried out as a pre-requisite, the bench observed.

The Court didn't agree with the petitioner’s demand to declare monkeys vermin.

The Bench said that “The suggestion of culling monkeys like vermin, on the face of it, is outrageous, cruel & preposterous, to say the least, given that the monkey menace is self-created by the residents and/or the visitors to the adjoining religious establishment, where, invariably the visitors/residents either out of the fondness or by way of religious offerings feed the monkeys. Garbage littering by residents is another contributor".

The Court was informed by UT that a special task force had been set up to attend to the residents’ complaints & catch the monkeys within 30 minutes of complaint, before releasing them in the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary. Besides, fruit-bearing trees had been planted in many sanctuary areas to provide a secure habitat with enough food & water to the monkeys. 

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Picture Source : <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Toque_macaque_monkeys_of_Sri_Lanka_02.jpg" title="via Wikimedia Commons">Puva Kamal</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0">CC BY-SA</a>