- Wednesday, May 08, 2024
Authorities are putting up cut-outs of gray langurs and planning to deploy people who can mimic their sounds to scare away smaller monkeys from venues related to the mega international event.
By: Shubham Ghosh
MONKEY menace is common in a lot of places in India and now, authorities in the country’s capital are leaving no stone unturned to tackle with the problem, ahead of the G20 summit next month when top leaders from around the world will gather on its soil.
According to a BBC report, life-size cut-outs of grey langur monkeys have been installed at various venues in the city linked to the summit to scare away the smaller ones. There are even plans to deploy people who can mimic the animal’s sounds.
Delhi is home to a large money population and authorities are hopeful such steps will protect the summit from the menace.
The G20 leaders’ summit, which will see the presence of the likes of US president Joe Biden and British prime minister Rishi Sunak among others, will be held on September 9 and 10.
Langurs are known for their aggressive nature and are typically controlled by handlers with special training, who release them while spotting other monkeys.
A senior official was quoted by the PTI as saying that the cut-outs of langurs were put up in areas that have high concentration of monkeys.
Besides the cut-outs, around 30-40 trained people who can mimic langurs’ sounds will be deployed at hotels where delegates will stay during the summit, besides in places were monkeys are commonly sighted.
The officials will also make arrangements to provide food to monkeys to designated areas, so that they are discouraged from roaming around in search of food.
In the past, parliament authorities in India deployed real langurs to scare away monkeys but it was stopped after animal rights activists objected to holding monkeys captive, saying it was a cruel act.
