₹2.25 Crore Monkey Sterilisation Centre Shuts Down, Menace Grows
The monkey menace has become a serious problem for farmers, as monkeys destroy standing crops and cause significant financial loss: Reports
ADILABAD: Efforts to sterilise monkeys to control their population have proved futile, and the Monkey Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (MRRC) at Sarangapur in Nirmal district is no longer functioning.
Monkeys captured from villages and urban areas were earlier housed at the centre, which was developed at a cost of ₹2.25 crore with accommodation for 150 monkeys. The forest department established the MRRC near Sarangapur in December 2020, making it the second such facility in India. However, the centre was closed in July 2024, and no activity has taken place since.
The monkey menace has become a serious problem for farmers, as monkeys destroy standing crops and cause significant financial loss. Capturing monkeys has also become expensive, and neither gram panchayats nor municipalities are willing to spend money on catching them or sending them for sterilisation.
Specially trained monkey catchers charge between ₹500 and ₹1,000 per monkey. Some Village Development Committees (VDCs) have collected money from villagers to hire catchers from Andhra Pradesh and managed to capture a few monkeys in Nirmal district.
The expenses for capturing monkeys must be borne by municipalities, gram panchayats or VDCs. Most monkey catchers come from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh and Narasapur in Medak district of Telangana.
Officials performed sterilisation operations on only 1,500 monkeys before the centre in Sarangapur shut down, largely due to the irregular supply of monkeys and the high cost involved in capturing them. Observers say combined efforts are required to tackle the monkey menace, as individual efforts have little impact. In the past, villagers of Pochera in Adilabad district pooled donations to deal with the issue. However, many VDCs are now reluctant to spend money on capturing monkeys. The VDC in Narsapur, Nirmal district, is among the few that has taken the initiative to fund monkey-catching efforts.
