Delhi failed to solve the human-monkey conflict because of the corrupt administration and the abandonment of experts at all crucial steps. Failed rewilding and the malfunctioning fence of the designated monkey home at Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary in Delhi made a complete mockery of the procedures laid out by the Supreme Court.
Haphazard trapping of monkeys led to their separation from family groups, triggering them and making them aggressive.
Ayodhya, it seems, is far ahead in finding viable solutions to the human-monkey conflict. The city has set out to create a replicable model for the rehabilitation of monkeys in human habitation areas. Ayodhya has strong political leadership, passionate involvement of experts and non-government organisations, and efficient administration for full compliance.
While it is yet to be formalised, Ayodhya is working on a model that would be the first of its kind. Its two components are monkey zones and corridors that can provide the best possible home and a safe passage for the migration of the primates to their natural habitat and create a new category of rhesus macaque — the repatriate monkeys.
Ayodhya plans to take an alternate route to peaceful co-existence. It is thus stopping all trapping, which in turn will stop triggering monkeys.
Also Read: Delhi has given up fixing monkey problem. Courts, committees, tenders—nothing’s working
Man-made conflict
First life appeared 3.7 billion years ago on Earth, which itself is 4.54 billion years old. 25 million years ago, monkeys and man shared a common ancestry and both co-existed in their own niches. And according to the Ramayana, 7,100 years back, Ram took the help of monkeys to defeat Ravan.
Early humans and primates ate almost the same food — low calorie, high protein and high in micronutrients.
It’s only quite recently that both species developed conflict. Humans tried to dominate nature and monkeys — natural resources started declining due to the population growth of humans, and non-sustainable industrialisation was followed by climate change and pollution.
Humans became greedy and selfish and forgot to co-exist with other life forms. Monkey habitats were either eliminated or converted into monoculture or commercial forests. When pressure from reformers increased, shallow forests were created. But they lacked multiple layers — canopy trees, sub-trees, shrubs, grasses, and herbs of real forests — which are essential for monkeys. This is true for Ayodhya also.
The two categories of monkeys in Ayodhya are free-ranging forest monkeys with sleek bodies, reticent, healthy and glossy fur, and commensal monkeys are obese or malnourished, aggressive, and unhealthy with diseases they have acquired from humans.
When shy forest monkeys ventured into the city, humans thought them to be demigods, and started feeding them. Being highly adaptive creatures, they became dependent on humans. And instead of foraging, they started raiding. The demigods had become pests.
Humans fed monkeys highly addictive foods rich in sugars and fats, which corrupted them and changed their behaviour. Monkeys started chasing, scratching, biting humans and destroying properties. The relationship turned bitter.
Free-ranging monkeys became commensal. Instead of solving the man-monkey conflict, half-heartedly and wrongly implemented management policies led to the increase of commensal monkeys.
Ayodhya will show the way
To deal with commensal monkeys, Ayodhya is mulling over an alternate route. The first step is stopping the trapping of monkeys. This keeps them calm and keeps their groups and families intact.
The second step would be the creation of monkey zones and monkey corridors. These would be areas with alluring habitats rich in monkey-friendly trees, plants, shrubs, herbs, grasses, water bodies and foraging grounds. It could have up to 1,000 plant species, would support biodiversity and contribute to stopping climate change.
Instead of demarcating one big area for the primates, these smaller monkey zones can be created near their habitats, including temples.
The third step would be facilitating commensal monkey migration to monkey zones via monkey corridors. Monkey corridors would be narrow stretches with monkey-friendly shrubs, herbs and grasses connecting commensal monkey areas to monkey zones.
The corridors must be developed along with water channels. These should be fenced but the monkey zones themselves must remain open.
The steps which can be taken include mapping monkey groups, studying one commensal group, locating an area nearest to commensal habitat and developing it as a monkey zone with five to six-year-old canopy trees, four to five-year-old fruiting trees, two to three-year-old fruiting shrubs, all of which can be sourced from nurseries. The rest of the monkey-friendly vegetation can be grown on the principles of the Miyawaki forest.
The area can be maintained by making the soil fungi dominant, oxygenated and fertile. Monkey-friendly multi-layered vegetation can be grown by randomly planting three to four saplings per square meter and weeding it regularly. A layer of mulch with tea compost or wood chips can be added. It should be fluffed up regularly with a rake, maintaining it two to three inches above the ground.
Once a pathway to reach a monkey zone is created, they will gradually move back to their natural habitat. My experience shows that monkeys look for new foraging and feeding grounds. When we give them a natural habitat, they will all rush there. It is a natural phenomenon. They just have to find it. One monkey zone and one corridor per commensal monkey habitat should do.
When monkeys start moving to these zones, we have to be vigilant. It is a constant process and they will have to be slowly weaned away from addictive human foods.
The fourth step would be to constitute a new category of rhesus macaques called repatriate monkeys with special rights.
The winter months are ideal for their migration to these monkey zones. During this time monkeys sit in huddles and keep one another warm. Huddles will be helpful in keeping the group intact for the journey. They should not be moved during the mating months—September and October—as they are more aggressive and can bite humans.
Finally, the city must appoint monkey sheriffs for monitoring, critical appraisal and spreading awareness about monkeys, their lives, and behaviour and how to co-exist with them.
Monkeys are too aggressive now. We have disturbed them with haphazard trappings. We must first calm them down, then bring them back to our lives in a peaceful manner.
Ayodhya’s out-of-the-box solution should have a transparent way of working, total involvement of the government administration and local NGOs. The country needs this model.
Iqbal Malik is a primatologist and the founder, executive director of Vatavaran. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)