Cuttack: The Wildlife Society of Odisha (WSO) has urged the forest department to chart a long-term plan "to curb human confrontations with monkeys who have become a pest in many areas and farm lands".

In a memorandum to the principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) and chief wildlife warden on Monday, the society said vast areas of coastal Odisha in of Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore, Jajpur and neighbouring areas face regular crop raids by troops of monkeys. Farmers have stopped vegetable farming at many places in Banki and Athagarh.

"The forest department is well aware of the monkey menace that has grown by leaps and bounds in the last one decade. But, the department does not have a long-term plan for this," said WSO secretary Biswajit Mohanty.

A monkey lifted an infant at Talabasta village on the outskirts of Chandaka-Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary here on March 31. The next day, the child was found dead in a well.

"This was not a one-off incident. This was only one of the many instances of the monkeys posing threats to humans as they are repeatedly entering human habitations and terrorising women and children. The situation is going out of hands and we apprehend that more tragedy is in store for us unless immediate measures are adopted to manage the monkey menace," Mohanty said.

The forest department has engaged a third party consultant to draft a wildlife conflict mitigation plan for Odisha. The WSO expected the principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) and chief wildlife warden to ask the consultant to study the menace and suggest a plan for management.

The WSO suggested capture and relocation of rogue monkeys with help of expert monkey catchers and castration or sterilisation of male and female monkeys to control their population.

The WSO suggested installation of caution boards at places of worship, tourist spots and roadsides warning people against feeding monkeys and direction to divisional forest officers to register cases against offenders. They should post field staff at identified feeding locations and book the offenders who are feeding the monkeys.

The WSO felt that one reason for the monkeys remaining close to humans is artificial feeding for religious beliefs. It takes place at places of worship and tourist spots, as well as roadsides and other public places.