The macaque being fed while its rescuer looks on. Picture by Anirban Choudhury

Chandir Jhar (Alipurduar), Feb. 18: A macaque that had been damaging vegetable patches in a village here was today saved from the hands of angry residents by a rickshaw-puller who has given the animal shelter in his house.

This afternoon, Falen Roy was passing through Chandir Jhar in the Alipurduar II block when he spotted the villagers, armed with stones and lathis, chasing the macaque.

“I saw the boys throwing stones at it. I knew that if even one stone struck the animal, it would die,” said Roy.

The people chasing the macaque said it had been damaging tomatoes in their fields and entering houses. “The situation was getting out of hand,” said Mrinal Barman, a resident, who had had his vegetable patch damaged.

Roy knew he had to act fast. His opportunity came when the macaque entered a bamboo grove. “The animal was in a state of panic and climbed on to my lap as soon as I called it,” he said.

The residents wanted Roy to hand over the macaque to them. “I refused. I had to be adamant to save the animal.”

The rickshaw-puller took the macaque to his hut and fed it biscuits, tomatoes, bananas and water. “I think the monkey is trained,” Roy said.

The man who hardly earns Rs 50 a day said he could not keep the macaque at his place for long.

“If no one comes for it, I will hand it over to the forest department,” he said.