Most big cities in the world face similar problems: traffic, pollution, overcrowding. New Delhi, India, has all of these, plus a rare challenge--monkeys. Hungry rhesus macaques roam the streets. They break into businesses and homes in search of food.
New Delhi has come up with an unusual solution for the problem: Bring in tougher monkeys. Companies and city officials have started employing langurs on chains to scare off the smaller rhesus monkeys. Langurs have sharp teeth and long, muscular tails.
A Wild Population Problem
Wild monkeys have moved into the city as trees have been cut down for
buildings. But the monkey population has grown in recent years and so
have the problems. Hungry monkeys attack people and snatch food.
Scientist Iqbal Malik studies monkeys. She estimates there are now 5,000 of them in New Delhi. Seven years ago, she came up with a plan to create a protected area for the monkeys. Instead, the city started trapping and caging them.
Malik says using langurs is "stupid." She believes that the smaller monkeys will simply move elsewhere in the city. There is also some evidence that the rhesus monkeys and langurs may learn to live together, which means rhesus monkeys wouldn't feel pressured to leave. And chaining langurs violates India's wildlife protection act. "They are dealing with a problem by creating new ones," Malik told TIME.
The city is still locking up the rhesus monkeys it catches. Officials want to send them to forests in neighboring states, but many of the requests have been refused. In early October, India's Supreme Court ordered that 300 monkeys be sent to forests in central India.
Wildlife experts argue that New Delhi's monkeys may not survive in the wild. They would like the city to find a solution that is good for its inhabitants, monkey and human.