In Kanpur city, people had to make their own houses into ‘cage’ to save themselves from the terror of monkeys. For 20 years there has been a dispute between the Municipal Corporation and the Forest Department over who will catch the monkeys. The forest department used to say that the monkeys in the forest belonged to them and not to the city. To deal with this problem, people, worried about the terror of stray monkeys, started posting messages to the administration on social media, after which the Municipal Corporation woke up. But the problem was how to catch the monkeys? Despite many efforts, the monkeys did not get trapped in the net. When one or two were caught, their companions rescued them. Eventually the cattle catching team started luring the monkeys with peanuts. The result was that 359 monkeys were caught in the last four days. It is a different matter that three quintals of peanuts purchased by the Municipal Corporation were also eaten. There are about five thousand monkeys in the city, which are becoming a problem. They enter homes and take out food from the fridge. They tear the clothes spread on the rooftops. Flowers and leaves are plucked and thrown away. The situation is that in the last two years there have been 187 incidents of attacks by monkeys. In this, 66 people’s arms and legs were broken. So far 359 monkeys have been caught from the city. Currently this campaign will run till December 30.
Being caught in this trap
Where monkeys are in abundance, the Municipal Corporation’s cattle catching team places four cages at some distance apart. Peanuts are kept in this cage. The employee stands behind a tree holding the remote of the cage. Seeing peanuts, monkeys enter the cage. Some people also start observing and when they do not see any danger, they start eating peanuts comfortably. Meanwhile, a button is pressed on the remote and the cage closes.
Preparation for complete freedom of roads from bulls
Kanpur Municipal Corporation has launched a special campaign named ‘Call us, give us’ just to catch the bull. The campaign will also run till December 30. Control room numbers (0512-2526004, 2526005, toll free number 18001805159 and WhatsApp helpline 8429526078) have been issued. QRT arrives as soon as you make a call or message. 170 bulls have been caught in four days in the campaign.