Hyderabad, March 6: The drought first drove farmers to suicide; now, it is apparently driving animals away from forests and into cities.

?Over 25,000 monkeys have strayed into Hyderabad in search of food. It has become a tough job to get monkey-catchers this season,? Andhra Pradesh wildlife conservator P. Joseph said.

Red-faced monkeys are not the only wildlife visitors to the state?s 200-odd towns and cities, according to wildlife department officials.

Leopards, bears, bisons, fox and wild boars, too, have been sighted over the past few weeks, making residents jittery about safety, claim municipal officials. The monkeys are the most troublesome, stealing coconuts, milk packets and food, especially from infants and the aged.

One of them plundered the milk packets and vegetables that vendors had left outside the door of Rukmini Rao, a 28-year-old housewife of Chikkadapally here. ?What will I do if this keeps repeating every day?? she asked. Gowri Kumari, a 14-year-old of Basheerbagh, was in tears after another ran away with her lunch box.

Municipal corporation official Prabhakar Reddy of Begumpet said he has been chasing monkeys for the last 10 days. ?I have been running from rooftops of temples and shopping complexes to that of schools to catch these animals.?

?We catch at least 2,000 monkeys a day and leave them 50 km away. But they are back in 48 hours,? an urban administration official said.

The worst hit are joggers and walkers as almost all of Hyderabad?s 126 lakes and water tanks have become watering holes for the primates.

They were so pesky that the finance ministry had to allocate a large sum, under the head of animal care, to provide emergency supplies like food and water to the displaced animals even before the budget was presented on February 18.

The drought and consequent crop failures have in the last 10 months alone taken a toll of over 2,300 farmers. It also killed 160,000 animals such as goats and buffaloes during the same period, claim officials.

Hardly a month ago, a leopard cub wandered into the posh Jubilee Hills locality here. Last week, a bear stunned residents of Kapra municipality, about 10 km from Hyderabad.

Likewise, wild boars and fox are said to have become regular visitors in the Hyderabad urban development authority limits, comprising 10 municipalities and 120 panchayats.

?This is the first time that wild animals are coming out of forests in search of food. It shows that their habitat is disturbed not only by lack of food and water but also by foreign elements,? wildlife campaigner Shiv Kumar said.