Langur Cutouts, Trained Mimics For G20 2023: How Delhi Has Uniquely Dealt With Monkey Menace For Decades
Guests for the G20 Summit are set to be greeted by a 'monkey face', quite literally. Not only that, they will also be treated to the entire sensory experience of coming across a monkey troupe!?
The G20 2023 preparations have a unique aspect of dealing with Delhi's monkey menace - involving the installation of life-sized cutouts of langurs at various G20 venues as well as on the roads of Delhi.?Apart from the cutouts, 40 personnel trained have also been deployed to mimic sounds made by langurs.
The idea behind installing the cutouts is to scare away monkeys who might frequent the spots visited by foreign dignitaries for the G20 Summit.?
The two-day G20 Summit 2023 will start on September 9 in Delhi's Pragati Maidan. Heads of state and government, and other delegates from the various member countries, as well as G20 invitees, will come to Delhi for the Summit.?
A monkey anarchy: From loitering to attacking & even biting people?
For decades, Delhi has faced spouts of periodic anarchy unleashed by troops of rhesus monkeys. The area they frequent the most is the high-security Parliament complex or the North and South Blocks on Raisina Hill.?
But it is not just limited to the political centre; over the years, it has spread to South, East and Central Delhi residential colonies, such as CR Park, Sangam Vihar, etc.?
The city first woke up to its monkey problem in 2007 when Surinder Singh Bajwa, the then-deputy mayor of Delhi, fell to his death from his balcony after a monkey attacked him.?
According to a report by PTI, the unchecked population of monkeys has led to their ever-increasing numbers across the city, with the animals loitering around and often attacking and biting people.?
In 2018, more than 950 cases of monkey bites were reported in the capital.?
Measures adopted over the years to deter rhesus monkeys?
Earlier, langurs were allowed to be used by monkey catchers to prevent rhesus monkeys, its enemy. But this was banned in 2012 following complaints of animal cruelty.?
After that, trained dogs, scare guns and electronic devices were tried out to scare off the monkeys, but these were largely inefficient.?
The monkey catchers of Delhi, suddenly at the risk of losing their livelihood, had to upgrade their skills. They trained themselves to make the sounds of a langur and successfully chased away monkeys without using langurs, as per a Frontline report.?
In 2014, 40 men were hired by the Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) to imitate the cry of the langur in the Parliament complex of India.?
The rhesus monkey species was earlier listed under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, which meant that killing or trading them was forbidden, unless the animal threatened life. But it was delisted in 2022 since the animals had become very common, and keeping them in a scheduled category was no longer required.
Delhi's monkey menace in pop culture?
A movie named Eeb Allay Ooo! was released in 2019 and is centred around a young migrant who battles hordes of monkeys in the heart of New Delhi and is stationed outside government buildings as a contractual monkey repeller.?
Notably, a documentary titled Monkey Menace was also released in 2018, exploring the unique urban rift between Delhi's Rhesus Macaques and its citizens.
For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit?Indiatimes News.? ? ? ? ?
