Even as this mischievous uninvited simian rattles residents of Lohtse society in Mumbai’s posh Juhu area, the forest department hasn’t cared to lend an ear to their problem
One fine day in March, residents of Lohtse residential society had spotted a monkey in their compound and found it odd while expecting not to encounter that sight again. Now, cut to two months later, that same monkey is all these residents can think about as it has entered each one of their homes and left a mark. And that’s not it. It has pounced for food and other items on kids and senior citizens walking in the park or playing.
The monkey’s terror has lasted two months already. Pic/Shadab Khan
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While residents are exasperated, the Forest department has somehow managed to ignore their peeves. Sharmila Vasudevan, one of the residents, said, “We have been calling the control room number, but nobody has come to our rescue by catching the monkey.”
After they lost all hope the residents decided to call a monkey rescuer. “We managed to call a monkey rescuer but he too turned us down saying the monkey can only be caught in a cage, which he doesn’t have,” added Vasudevan. While fighting for the same cause (getting rid of the monkey), this lot has also gotten divided. While the animal lovers among them want the monkey to be caught safely by the forest department, others, after a maddening March and an annoying April, just want it to be taken away. Nalini Mohan, another resident, said, “We are troubled because the monkey enters our homes, eats everything from the kitchen, sometimes rests on our sofas, our dining tables. Moreover, we are afraid that it might hurt the kids.”
Vasudevan said, “We want the animals to be safely rescued and rehabilitated. That’s why we have been behind the officials but they don’t seem to be willing to help us.”
FD speak
K P Singh, chief conservator of Forest Thane Territorial Range, said, “I have instructed my officers to get in action now. There is no standard operating procedure (SOP) for rescuing monkeys and we are working on it. The matter will be looked into immediately.”
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