Monkeys Driving Humans To Their Deaths Becoming A Routine Affair

Hyderabad:The menace of monkeys marauding through rural and urban Telangana landscapes continues to take its toll on lives of people with an intermediate first year student in Armoor becoming the latest victim of monkeys striking terror among people.

The death of the student came just a day before Friday on which a woman farmer, standing guard in her field in Muthyampet mandal to drive monkeys away from raiding the maize crop her family planted, tripped on a wire and fell into an open well, losing her life.

The problem of monkeys raiding crops, villages, homes, and attacking people in Telangana has been a regular feature and over the past few years, several people have lost their lives either trying to escape from monkeys chasing them, or falling victims to their attacks. Meanwhile, a public interest litigation on the monkey problem in the state is currently pending before the High Court after the court directed the state government to outline steps it has taken to control monkey menace in Telangana.

According to Jagtial police, the deceased student, identified as G. Kaveri was studying at the KGBV junior college in Armoor and in the early hours of August 5, had gone to the restroom on the top floor of the hostel building. And when she saw some monkeys coming at her, she tried to get away from them and in a bid to escape, jumped off the building and suffered grievous injuries on her head and legs. She was taken to a hospital in Nizamabad after initial treatment at Armoor but succumbed to the injuries on Thursday, according to the police.

On Friday in Muthyampet village in Mallial mandal of Jagtial district, a woman watching for monkeys in her field where her family planted maize, tripped on a wire in the field near an open well, and fell into the water and drowned, the police said. With monkeys often raiding crops, it is normal for farmers to stand watch against the animals, as well as against birds that feed on the crops. As she was moving around, Laxmi tripped on a wire near the well, and fell into the water. By the time any rescue could be mounted, she drowned,” a Mallial police officer said.

According to official data, of the 33 districts in Telangana, monkey menace is endemic and 11 districts are listed as ‘high occurrence’ of the problem, followed by 9 as ‘moderately’ affected districts, while 13 are listed as ‘low occurrence’ districts.

With the monkey menace growing in the state, the High Court had in March taken up a PIL and directed the state government to file a counter on the steps it has taken to control the problem. After the initial hearing, the next hearing in the case is yet to be taken up. In the past too, as far back as in 2023, the High Court directed the state government to take steps to control the monkey menace in the state giving specific directions, following which the then chief secretary A Santhi Kumari also had held a high level review meeting.

Though a monkey rescue and rehabilitation centre was opened amidst much fanfare in Nirmal district in 2020 where monkeys caught in villages, towns and cities were to be neutered to prevent their populations from rising, the centre is now reported to be defunct as it was expensive to run, and shortage of monkey catchers across the state whose charges are to be borne by the local bodies as in the case of village panchayats or municipal bodies.

Monkey threat

2019 Feb.: V. Bhadravva, 80, from Pandilla village of Sangareddy district was trying to run away from monkeys that set upon her and in the process, fell into a nearby pit and died from the injuries she suffered.

2021 March: Srikonda Revathi, 26, and mentally challenged, was in her house in Dharmaram mandal headquarters of Peddapalli district when a group of monkeys rushed in and attacked her, and she is reported to have died from the shock of the attack suffering a cardiac arrest.

2022 Aug.: Manikantha Sai, 9, and mentally challenged, was playing at an under-construction building in Narsapur in Medak district where his mother was working as a labourer, died after he fell from the building trying to escape a group of monkeys.

2022 Oct.: Two teenagers B. Rajesh and P. Ritesh drowned in a village tank in Advi Mamidipally village in Makloor mandal of Nizamabad district after they jumped into the water to escape a group of monkeys attacking them.

2023 March: Chatraboina Narsavva, 70, while washing dishes outside her house in Ramareddy village in Kamareddy district, was attacked and mauled by monkeys resulting in her death.

2024 June: Mekala Rajesh, 37, from Devapur village of Kasipet mandal in Karimnagar district, died after he fell on a barricade at a cement factory he was working at trying to escape monkeys chasing him.

2024 0ct.: Bongoni Laxmi, 52, working outside her house in Khanapur in Nirmal district, tripped and fell on a sharp object as she tried to flee a group of monkeys, she later succumbed to her injury.

2025 April: Mallamma, 63, from Perikavedu village of Rayaparthi mandal in Warangal district was carrying hot water for bathing when attacked by monkeys and in the melee, ended up spilling the water on herself, she succumbed to burn injuries soon after.