Authorities in the Indian capital city of Delhi, are taking a variety of steps to scare away monkeys from venues linked to the G20 summit including posting cardboard cutouts of large monkeys, and monkey impersonators.
Life-size cut-outs of grey langur monkeys – which scare smaller monkeys – have been put up at various places and there are plans to deploy people trained to mimic the animal’s sounds.
Delhi has a huge monkey population and authorities hope these steps will keep the animals from disrupting the summit at which world leaders will discuss economic issues.
India will host the meeting of G20 leaders on 9 and 10 September.
Langurs are an aggressive type of monkey with long tails and dark faces. They are typically controlled on leads by specially trained handlers, who release them once other monkeys are seen.
A senior official told PTI news agency that langur cut-outs were being placed in areas heavily infested with monkeys.
Authorities are also making arrangements to provide food for monkeys in designated sites, aiming to discourage them from lingering in search of food.
On previous occasions too – including the 2010 Commonwealth Games – authorities in Delhi have tried to scare away monkeys with the help of real langurs or people who can mimic them.
In 2014, authorities hired 40 professional langur impersonators to scare away monkeys from the parliament and other government buildings in the capital.
Parliament authorities had earlier used real langurs for the same purpose, but stopped after animal rights activists said holding monkeys captive amounted to cruelty.
Source: BBC India.
