Red-faced monkeys are not the only wildlife visitors to the state’s 200-odd towns and cities, according to wildlife department officials. Leopards, bears, bisons, fox and wild boars, too, have been sighted over the past few weeks, making residents jittery about safety, claim municipal officials. The monkeys are the most troublesome, stealing coconuts, milk packets and food, especially from infants and the aged.
One of them plundered the milk packets and vegetables that vendors had left outside the door of Rukmini Rao, a 28-year-old housewife of Chikkadapally here. “What will I do if this keeps repeating every day?” she asked. Gowri Kumari, a 14-year-old of Basheerbagh, was in tears after another ran away with her lunch box. Municipal corporation official Prabhakar Reddy of Begumpet said he has been chasing monkeys for the last 10 days. “I have been running from rooftops of temples and shopping complexes to that of schools to catch these animals.” “We catch at least 2,000 monkeys a day and leave them 50 km away. But they are back in 48 hours,” an urban administration official said. The worst hit are joggers and walkers as almost all of Hyderabad’s 126 lakes and water tanks have become watering holes for the primates.
