Monkeys being shifted without tests, finds panel

New Delhi: A member of a Delhi High Court-appointed committee for translocation of monkeys has written to the chief wildlife warden of Delhi, stating that monkeys were being captured and trans-located to Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary without conducting any tests for tuberculosis or rabies, which may affect the existing simian population.

The member, Sonya Ghosh, also claimed the animals were being transported in extremely small cages and being kept in inhumane conditions – violations the forest department needs to immediately address.

A 2007 Delhi High Court order had directed monkeys to be caught and sent to the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, located in south Delhi, where over 25,000 monkeys are said to be living, according to a 2018 submission made to the high court.

In her letter, Ghosh, who has also been appointed by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) to identify feeding points for stray dogs across the city, stated that violations under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, needed to be looked into, with seven monkeys recently caught from Vasant Kunj by South Delhi Municipal Corporation using cages that the monkeys could not even stand in.

“The monkeys were confined in four metal cages (3ft x 2ft x 2ft). Two cages had one large male each, the third one had three young monkeys and the fourth had a mother and baby. These four cages were kept inside a bigger cage. The male monkeys could hardly stand in the cramped cages,” Ghosh wrote in the letter, stating the simians were also kept outside in the sun and rain for hours.

She alleged that monkeys were later released into the sanctuary without being medically examined. According to Delhi High Court judgment, each monkey being shifted needs to be examined first. “The monkeys, which are to be shifted to Bhatti Mines, shall be subjected to medical examination as far as possible so that they do not suffer from any communicable disease, which will prove injurious to the healthy monkeys,” the judgment states.

However, a senior forest official said the allegations were incorrect, stating that a rescue centre existed at the sanctuary where monkeys are first examined before being released inside. “Earlier, they were even being quarantined before being released, owing to the pandemic. We will, however, examine the allegations made and take corrective action wherever required,” he said.


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