Human-Monkey Conflicts –Burning Issues

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The death of 38 monkeys, which died of asphyxiation during an illegal capture and relocation operation, has highlighted the increasing number of instances of human-monkey conflict in Karnataka.
According to officials, the monkeys were poisoned, stuffed in gunny bags, beaten and thrown on the roadside near Chowdanahalli by some miscreants.
Visuals of the scene were blared on local television and on the front pages of regional papers.

The Karnataka High Court called the reports “very disturbing” and took suo moto cognisance of the issue.
Officials descended on Ugane and nearby Kyatanahalli village after they received information that a few farmers had organised rituals at the local Anjaneya(Hanuman) temple seeking forgiveness for the killing of the monkeys (the monkey is considered sacred by many Hindus who worship Hanuman or Anjaneya, an anthropomorphised monkey-God).

Seven people were arrested: a “monkey catcher” couple from a nearby town; and five people from Ugane village, including farmers accused of hiring the couple and even shop owners and autorickshaw drivers accused of providing food and logistical help to the monkey catchers.

Simmering conflicts for years along

Bonnet macaques and other non-human primates are being increasingly reported as crop-raiders.
Multiple studies have placed bonnet macaques in the top five crop-raiding species, and in some protected areas of Karnataka, it ranks only below the wild pig and elephant in terms of crop damage.

Bonnet Macaques are grey-brown Old World monkeys with wrinkly faces, large ears and a comical mop of centre-parted hair on their heads.
There are two subspecies:
1. The dark-bellied Bonnet Macaque
2. The pale-bellied Bonnet Macaque.
The IUCN lists the Bonnet Macaque as Vulnerable and the main threat to them is likely to be human-animal conflict in agricultural and urban areas.
They are hunted, and live macaques are also traded for research and road shows.

A farmer has a four-acre arecanut and coconut plantation and claims that up to 50% of his crop had been damaged by monkeys this year.
According to this farmer, “It is a really irritating creature, for it eats little, but spoils a lot. It brings down bunches of areca and tears apart fronds for fun.”
Some farmers claimed losses of Rs. 1-2 lakh per acre.
Banana plantations, which was more abundant even a decade ago, has dwindled drastically in the area.
Ginger farmers claim that monkeys and peacocks damage 75% of their crops; while coconut farmers said that in just one night, monkeys can destroy up to half the coconuts on trees.

Forest department officials said while they were aware of an increasing human-animal conflict in the region, these villages had not approached them.
Also said that the forest department had not received a complaint – either of the presence of crop-raiding monkeys or of extensive crop damage – from those in the area.

According to the farmers, the increasing presence of monkeys in their villages was due to the disappearance of forest patches in the region.
Highways and roads have been built through nearby forests. There are encroachments, farms and plantations in places that were thickly wooded.
Meanwhile, governmental schemes encouraged areca and coconut plantations.
In just the past decade, paddy and maize crop has been replaced by these plantations.
All of this attracted monkeys to the area. Their population has just grown beyond control.

Bonnet macaque populations may have declined by up to 65 % in southern India since 1989.
The paper postulates numerous reasons for this decline: road widenings, increasing urbanisation, land-use changes, loss of canopy connectivity and an expansion of the more aggressive rhesus monkey which often outcompeted bonnet macaques for natural resources.
According to a survey : people’s tolerance for these animals was decreasing. The way farmers dealt with agriculture loss had changed over the decades.
This change in attitude is reflected in the changing religious beliefs around macaques which are considered by many to be sacred creatures.
However, studies have found that macaques are increasingly being considered pests and losing their religious status in human-monkey conflict areas of north and south India.
Some species of primates, including bonnet macaques evolved to co-exist with humans. Traditional beliefs ensured the continuation of this relationship.
At some point, tradition makes way for socio-economic concerns to arise. Human-monkey conflict was inevitable.

After pressure from the Karnataka High Court, the Karnataka government put forth two solutions it was considering:
1. an exploration of the ‘Himachal Model’ of mass sterilisation of monkeys; and,
2. relocation of ‘problem’ monkeys to a 170-acre park in the Western Ghats.
In 2020-21, the Karnataka government announced a five-year programme costing Rs. 6.25 crore for the “rehabilitation” of monkeys.
Research has shown that new troops of monkeys replace the displaced monkeys, while the relocation of monkeys is likely to increase conflict around the rehabilitation area and more likely to spread diseases in new populations.
However, sterilisation doesn’t reduce monkey population. “It lowers the population growth, meaning its effects will be seen only in 10 years.
But, crop-raiding was becoming an immediate problem and the government allowed farmers to kill monkeys instead.
This resulted in a great decline, but we couldn’t scientifically evaluate if sterilisation actually worked.

The better alternative would be to encourage co-existence and build tolerances through a robust, holistic strategy that protects farms, holistically considers agricultural practices, quick compensations and provides for alternative livelihoods. However, co-existence is easier said than done.

Question:

Recently, Which of the following state conducted the “Monkey Census” as a wildlife census 2021: