Vermin, but only 5 monkeys killed so far

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 10

Monkey menace in the state was widely debated in the state Assembly. The political leaders raised voice regarding the damage being caused to farmers by monkeys. However, despite being declared as vermin and the damage being caused by them to crops, it seems that the people are not willing to kill them in Himachal Pradesh.

The fact came to the fore in response to a question raised by Congress MLA from Kinnaur, Jagat Singh Negi. Negi raised a query regarding the number of districts in which monkey has been declared as vermin and the number of monkeys killed in the state till November 15 after the species were declared as vermin.

Replying to the query Minister for Forest said that monkeys have been declared as vermin in 38 tehsils and sub tehsils of 10 districts in the state. However, despite being declared as vermin just five monkeys have been killed in the state. While four were killed in the Renukaji area of Sirmaur district one was killed in Kunihar area of Solan district.

The estimated population of monkeys was 50,000 in the state. The government has resorted to various measures such as sterilizing monkeys, awarding people for catching them and then declaring them vermin so that the people can kill them, but none of these measures seems to have provided solution to simian problem of the state.