Dropped from wild animals list, yet sterilisation of simians to continue in Himachal

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, May 9

Even as monkeys have been excluded from the schedule list of wild animals, the Forest Department will continue with its sterilisation programme to further bring down the simian population in the state.

Population on decline

• As per the official record with the Forest Department, only five monkeys had been killed since they were declared vermin in the state
• The Centre refused to extend the order declaring monkeys vermin, once it lapsed in 2019
• But, the adoption of a multipronged strategy has to a great extent helped in reducing the number of monkeys

Following an amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act, 2022, monkeys (rhesus macaque) have been excluded from the list of wild animals. With this amendment, the monkeys cannot be declared vermin to facilitate their scientific culling as they do not fall in the category of wild animals.

“Even though monkeys have been excluded from the list of wild animals, yet considering their disturbing behaviour, especially in urban areas, the sterilisation programme will be continued,” said Rajiv Kumar, Principal Chief Conservator, Wildlife.

The wildlife wing of the Forest Department has sterilised 1.87 lakh monkeys in HP since the programme was initiated 10 years ago. It is sterilising monkeys to control their population, which has declined considerably. “However, with monkeys getting used to eating high-energy human food in urban areas instead of foraying into its natural habitat, the sterilisation programme will continue,” said Kumar.

Monkeys had been declared vermin in 93 tehsils of the state by the Union Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate in 2016. Later, they were declared vermin in the Shimla Municipal Corporation, considering the damage being caused by them and the cases of biting people.

The monkeys continued to be declared as vermin even though people were hesitant to kill them for religious reasons. As per the official records, only five monkeys had been killed since they were declared vermin in the state.

The huge monkey population has caused extensive damage to crops and fruits, causing losses running in crores. In fact, people in many rural areas had given up the cultivation of maize, fruits and other crops as monkeys would cause devastation, causing huge losses. Moreover, the state government had itself pegged the damage to the agriculture and horticulture sectors by monkeys at Rs 500 crore.

Studies undertaken by the Wildlife Department had indicated that easy availability of food by rummaging through garbage was one of the major reasons for the simians confining to urban areas.

SURVEY FINDINGS

Year No. of Monkeys

2019 1.36 lakh

2015 2.07 lakh

2013 2.26 lakh

2004 3.17 lakh