mangalore today
name
name
name
Friday, March 29
Genesis Engineersnamename

 

Chikkamagalur: Monkey travels 22 km to take ’revenge’ from villagers


Mangalore Today News Network

Chikkamagalur, Sept 26, 2021: A monkey in the neighbourhood of Kottigehara village in Chikkamagalur district travelled 22 kilometres to take ’revenge’ from the villagers.

The young monkey of the Bonnet Macaque species had been going around doing its business of snatching fruits and snacks from people in Kottigehara. Initially, people didn’t care much about the monkey. However, when the schools were reopened, the monkey was spotted hovering around Morarji Desai School in the area.


monkey


After children got scared of the primate roaming around in the school premises, someone alerted the forest department. A rescue team came to trap the monkey on September 16.

The forest officials had a hard time catching the monkey and had to call nearby auto drivers and other people to help them chase the animal in a particular direction so as to trap it.

One of the auto drivers named Jagadish was attacked by the monkey. It hopped towards him, bit his hand and scraped him off. When Jagadish ran away to save his life, the monkey followed him. He decided to hide in his auto-rickshaw but the monkey attacked the vehicle and tore down its covers.

"I was scared as hell. The mad monkey was following me everywhere. It bit me so hard that my doctor said my wounds will take at least a month to heal. I can’t drive my auto-rickshaw which is my bread and butter. Also, I didn’t go home that day fearing the monkey would follow me home. I have small kids at home. What if it attacks them? I am still very afraid," Jagadish told News 18.

A group of more than 30 people eventually managed to trap the monkey after three hours. The forest department officials released the monkey in Balur forest, around 22 kilometres away from the village.

The villagers went back to their normal routine until the monkey returned to the village in less than a week. The monkey jumped into a truck that was passing by a road near the forest and somehow managed to reach Kottigehara.

When Jagadish found out that the monkey had returned, he went into hiding. "I felt a chill go down my spine when I heard that the monkey is back in the village. I called the forest department myself and asked them to rush immediately. I haven’t gone out of my hiding. I know it is the same monkey because we all saw a mark on his ear last time and my friend said the villagers noticed it," he said.

Mohan Kumar BG, Range Forest Officer, Mudigere, said, "We really don’t know why the monkey targeted one man. We don’t know if he had caused any harm to the animal previously or was it just an immediate reaction. But, this is the first time we have seen a monkey behaving like this though monkeys attacking humans are not unheard of."

The monkey was caught for the second time on September 22. It was released deep inside the forest this time.

As for Jagadish, he is still keeping indoors while hoping that the monkey does not return.


Write Comment | E-Mail To a Friend | Facebook | Twitter | Print
Error:NULL
Write your Comments on this Article
Your Name
Native Place / Place of Residence
Your E-mail
Your Comment
You have characters left.
Security Validation
Enter the characters in the image above