Unique IDs for monkeys to keep their numbers low

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s monkeys may now have unique IDs of their own. The Delhi high court has directed animal rescue NGO Wildlife SOS, municipal corporations and the forest department to formulate an action plan on how to sterilise monkeys in the capital in a bid to control their growing numbers. The NGO had earlier proposed a monkey vaccination and sterilisation project in the capital to the HC which would see them tagged with unique and permanent IDs in order to avoid overlapping.
Wildlife SOS had previously partnered with Agra Development Authority and the Agra district administration, successfully carrying out a series of sterilisation drives as part of the ‘Humane-Primate Mitigation Project’. Following the success of the model, high court has directed authorities in Delhi to prepare an action plan in support of the project. The HC has scheduled the next hearing on November 7, 2017.
The project aims at tackling the conflict between humans and rhesus macaques in a scientific and humane way through vaccinations and laparoscopic surgical interventions while ensuring minimal stress.
“The Human Primate Conflict Mitigation Project is visionary as it tackles the increasing conflict between people and rhesus macaques. Human provisioning and feeding of rhesus macaques by people for religious sentiments have habituated these animals and hence it is the need of the hour to sterilise the monkeys for long term control of their population. This model ensures public safety along the lines of animal welfare,” said Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder, Wildlife SOS.
The monkeys will be tagged using safe tattoos with individual codes to avoid overlapping while trapping them. An expert team from Wildlife SOS will then vaccinate them against rabies and tetanus and conduct a series of sterilisation surgeries.
“The first step is to conduct a thorough census of the rhesus macaque population in Delhi and establishing a dedicated monkey hotline to understand and document which areas have major conflict. We will then carry out a phase-wise operation in the demarcated conflict areas. The success of the model will depend on proper survey,” said Wasim Akram, Wildlife SOS special projects manager.