NEW DELHI — The trap was set. Bananas were placed in the cage, a rope was attached to the door and nearby, hidden in the bushes, Shankar Masthri waited patiently for his prey.
Mr. Masthri is India's premier monkey catcher and this may be the most important assignment of his career: tracking and capturing Delhi's rampaging monkeys.
Mr. Masthri, 30, whose business card informs you that he is also an expert dog catcher, is a native of the eastern state of Tamil Nadu. He has been brought to India's capital by officials who fear that monkeys are taking over the city. It's well known here that the country's best monkey catchers hail from the south and east.
The crisis reached a critical point in October when the deputy mayor of Delhi, S.S. Bajwa, 52, died after being attacked by monkeys in his family home. His family alleges he was reading the morning papers on his balcony when a group of monkeys attacked him, and he toppled over the balcony trying to fend off the animals. He died later in hospital from head wounds.
In November, a group of three or four monkeys went on the rampage through an east Delhi neighbourhood. One woman was seriously injured and two dozen people required medical treatment.
The attacks in Shastri Park, a poor neighbourhood, resulted in seven monkey bites.
“I was talking to someone at my door at around 11 p.m. when a monkey appeared. As I moved inside the monkey followed and sank its teeth in my baby's leg,” one local resident told a newspaper.
On the same day in central Delhi, a lone monkey broke into the residence of Priyanka Gandhi – daughter of Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Party chief – and caused havoc.
The latest incidents have prompted the Delhi government to import monkey catchers such as Mr. Masthri.
“I am the best at catching monkeys,” Mr. Masthri said in an interview as he set traps in northern Delhi.
The rewards for Mr. Masthri and his five-man crew are handsome. For each monkey they catch they get 450 rupees (around $11); on a good day, they catch upward of 10 monkeys. There's no shortage of the creatures, with an estimated population of 10,000 to 20,000 in Delhi.
The marauding monkeys are becoming a problem in Delhi as a result of the loss of their natural habitat. Delhi, with a population of about 16 million, is increasing in size by 500,000 people a year. Parkland and forest areas that once provided homes and food for the monkeys have been destroyed to provide housing for Delhi's booming population.
The problem is made worse because Hindus, who make up most of Delhi's population, believe monkeys are sacred.
Hanuman, a monkey God who represents courage, faith and power, is among the most popular in the Hindu pantheon. As a result of the monkey's elevated status, many people consider feeding the animals a sign of worship. So the urban monkeys have lost their fear of humans and pester them for food.
“It is a big problem,” Mr. Masthri said.
In 2002, the Delhi High Court ordered the city to do more about the monkey menace. By 2006, impatient with the lack of progress, the court sent a sharply worded letter to the city saying “If you can't control the monkeys, what can you do?”
Prompted by growing criticism and increasing attacks, the city is spending $2.5-million (U.S.) to address the problem. Teams, such as the one led by Mr. Masthri, have caught about 1,500 monkeys over the past few months.
Once the monkeys are caught they are taken to a huge cage on the edge of the city before being transferred to other states. The divinity of Hanuman means they cannot be killed.
Dr. R.B.S. Tygai, who runs the monkey-catching program and heads the veterinary services department, credits the importing of monkey catchers with helping to reduce the problem.
He told The Times of India, that: “The monkey catchers from other states have been seen to be more efficient. … The [city] is also planning to form a monkey squad that will rush to a spot on receiving complaints of monkey menace.”
Special to The Globe and Mail
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