DDelhi failed to resolve the man-monkey conflict due to corrupt administration and abandonment of experts at all critical steps. The failed rewilding and poor fencing of the designated monkey house at Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary in Delhi made a complete mockery of the procedures laid down by the Supreme Court.
Trapping the monkeys at random caused them to break away from family groups, triggering them and making them aggressive.
It seems Ayodhya is well ahead in finding viable solutions to the man-monkey conflict. The city has created an exemplary model for rehabilitating monkeys in human-inhabited areas. Ayodhya has strong political leadership, passionate involvement of experts and NGOs and efficient administration for complete compliance.
Though it is yet to be formalised, Ayodhya is working on a model that will be the first of its kind. Its two components are monkey territories and corridors that may provide the best possible home and a safe route for migrating primates to their natural habitats and create a new category of rhesus macaques – repatriated monkeys.
Ayodhya is planning to take an alternate route for peaceful coexistence. Thus it is stopping all trapping, which will in turn stop triggering the monkeys.
Read also: Delhi has given up on solving the problem of monkeys. Courts, committees, tenders—nothing is working
man made conflict
first life appeared 3.7 billion years ago on Earth, which itself is 4.54 billion years old. 250 million years ago, ape and man shared A common ancestry and the two co-existed in their respective niches. And according to the Ramayana, 7,100 years ago, Rama took the help of monkeys to defeat Ravana.
Early humans and primates ate roughly the same diet – low in calories, high in protein and high in micronutrients.
More recently there has been conflict between the two species. Humans tried to dominate nature and apes – human population growth led to depletion of natural resources, and unsustainable industrialization followed climate change and pollution.
Man became greedy and selfish and forgot to co-exist with other living beings. Monkey habitats have either been eliminated or converted into monocultures or commercial forests. When the pressure of reformers increased, shallow forests were born. But they lacked many of the layers—the canopy trees, subtrees, shrubs, grasses, and herbs of true forests—that are essential for monkeys. The same is true for Ayodhya.
There are two categories of monkeys in Ayodhya: wild monkeys with clean bodies, reticent, healthy and shiny fur, and commensal monkeys who are obese or malnourished, aggressive and unwell with diseases acquired by humans.
When the shy forest monkeys entered the city, humans mistook them for gods and started feeding them. Being highly adaptable creatures, they became dependent on humans. And instead of eating fodder, they started raiding. The gods had become insects.
Humans fed the monkeys a highly addictive diet rich in sugar and fat, which corrupted them and changed their behavior. The monkeys started chasing humans, scratching, biting and destroying properties. The relationship turned bitter.
The freed monkeys became commensal. Instead of resolving human-monkey conflict, half-hearted and poorly implemented management policies led to an increase in commensal monkeys.
Ayodhya will show the way
Ayodhya is considering an alternate route to deal with commensal monkeys. The first step is to stop trapping monkeys. This keeps them calm and keeps their groups and families intact.
The second step will be the creation of monkey zones and monkey corridors. These would be attractive habitat areas rich in monkey-friendly trees, plants, shrubs, herbs, grasses, water bodies and pastures. It could house up to 1,000 plant species, support biodiversity and contribute to curbing climate change.
Instead of demarcating a large area for the primates, these smaller monkey territories can be created near their habitats, including temples.
The third step would be to facilitate commensal monkey migration in monkey areas through monkey corridors. Monkey corridors will be narrow stretches with monkey-friendly shrubs, herbs and grasses that connect commensal monkey areas with monkey areas.
Corridors should be developed with water channels. These should be fenced but the monkey areas themselves should remain open.
The steps that can be taken include mapping monkey groups, studying a commensal group, locating the area closest to the commensal habitat and developing it as a monkey zone with five to six year old canopy trees, four Fruit bearing trees up to five years old are included. , fruit-bearing shrubs two to three years old, all of which can be obtained from nurseries. The rest of the ape friendly vegetation can be grown on the principles of Miyawaki Forest.
The area can be maintained by making the soil fungus-rich, oxygenated and fertile. A monkey-friendly layered vegetation can be developed by random planting of three to four plants per square meter and regular weeding. A layer of mulch with tea manure or wood chips can be added. It should be raked regularly keeping it two to three inches above the ground.
Once a monkey has access to the area, they will slowly move back to their natural habitat. My experience shows that monkeys look for new feed and pastures. When we give them a natural habitat, they will all rush there. This is a natural phenomenon. they just have to find it. There should be one monkey area and one corridor per commensal monkey habitat.
We have to be alert when monkeys start moving into these areas. It is an ongoing process and they have to be gradually weaned off the addictive human foods.
The fourth step would be to create a new class of rhesus macaques called repatriated monkeys with special rights.
The winter months are ideal for their migration to these monkey areas. During this, monkeys sit in herds and keep each other warm. Huddles would be helpful in keeping the group intact for the journey. They should not be moved during the mating months – September and October – as they are more aggressive and may bite humans.
Lastly, the city should appoint a monkey sheriff to monitor, critically appraise and spread awareness about monkeys, their lives and behavior and coexistence with them.
The monkeys have become very aggressive now. We have troubled them with random intrigues. We should pacify them first, then bring them back into our lives in a peaceful manner.
An out-of-the-box solution to Ayodhya should have a transparent way of working, full participation of government administration and local NGOs. The country needs this model.
Iqbal Malik is a primatologist and the founder, executive director of Vatavaran. Thoughts are personal.
(Editing by Therese Sudeep)