Shimla: The excessive and easy bait of monkeys and stray dogs in the capital town is leading big cats to enter right inside the localities and houses of residents here these days. Leopards have even killed three persons and injured many others in different areas of the hill State just recently.
Though the issue had been raised in the Vidhan Sabha only recently but the administration appears hardly anxious or concerned on the issue.
The State Kisan Sabha in a strange demand is now wanting the human beings to be included in the “Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960” since the government appears more concerned about the animals than the human beings.
Stating this today the Kisan Sabha State President Dr Kuldip Tanwar, who got agitated when the leopard killed a dog tonight about 20 meters from his house (see photograph), said that various animal loving NGOs and lobbies raise their voice against the cruelty towards animals by going to Courts and take the entire population in an area for a ride.
The Shimla Municipal Corporation had rounded up all the stray dogs and had made dog houses for them outside the maintown.
But a pro-stray animal NGO got them released and now the entire hill town is strewn with hundreds of stray dogs who attack children and visitors at any time in the day. These dogs are also attracting leopards to the localities and many of whom have even become man-eaters.
Due to scattered garbage everywhere in the towns thousands of monkeys, earlier living on hill tops or jungles have also moved down and have made life difficult for the residents here.
Himachal alone has a population of more than 4 lakh monkeys after the government had stopped their export for bio-medical researches abroad.
The Kisan Sabha from a long time is demanding the export and scientific culling of monkeys but no government has accepted this demand.
More than 60 percent of agricultural land in Himachal is lying barren because of monkey menace, claims the Kisan Sabha. Monkeys should be declared as vermin in Himachal for the time being, they said.
Photos by: KY Singh
KY Singh is a political observer and a senior journalist with an interest in a diverse set of issues related to Himachal Pradesh and other mountain states. He lives in Shimla.
The Kisan Sabha has been waging a long and futile battle against animals for quite some time. Their pet hate used to be monkeys, now they have branched out to other species. Poor garbage management, and you blame the monkeys? And its a brilliant idea to claim compensation for absentee farmers who work in the city and pretend they got scared away by the monkeys, guaranteed vote catcher!