Forest officials capture the monkey from a waterlogged site near Balisahipatana village. Picture by Manoj Kar

Kendrapara, Sept. 5: Experts from the state forest department managed to capture a monkey that had terrorised villagers of at least three gram panchayats (GP) in Rajnagar tehsil.

The monkey that had been on rampage injured over 200 villagers, mostly children. The animal bit two experts as they tried to cage it, said one of the officials. “The wildlife officials of the forest division got to the act following complaints from the villagers,” said divisional forest officer of Rajnagar forest division Manoj Kumar Mohapatra.

“Experts from Nandankanan Zoological Park captured the animal. At least two forest personnel got injured,” said the DFO.

“Our initial attempt to cage the monkey yielded no result as the shrewd animal disappeared after sensing our step. Later, we used sedatives through tranquillising rubber bullets and captured it near a waterlogged site near Balisahipatana village,” he said.

The animal often got the better of the forest personnel who sweated out for more than a week to catch it alive. The experts tried all possible tricks to tame it. However, the monkey kept on jumping from one place to the other. Finally, tranquillising rubber bullets tamed it to captivity, said Mohapatra.

“Since the day of my joining here as the DFO on August 8, I had been receiving complaints of its nuisance. It was spotted around Balisahipatana, Ostia and Bandhapada gram panchayats,” Mohanpatra said.

“So far my knowledge about the simian species is concerned, the monkey must be a pet one. It might have escaped. It was well versed with human activities. It was not a rogue but a witty. It turned unruly when provoked. It attacked mostly out of self-defence. The animal bit those who irritated it by pelting stones. That’s why, it bit mostly the school children,” the senior forest officer said. The captured monkey was later released into the unmanned Kalibhanjadiha forest areas.

“There had been a drop in attendance in schools across the three GPs following the monkey menace for the last one month. I found the villagers in a state of panic. Male members were moving around in groups with sticks while women and children mostly remained indoors,” said district inspector of schools Alekh Chandra Prusty.

Often this coastal district bears the brunt of simian menace. Almost all of the 1,542 revenue villages are by and large hit by monkey-induced violence.

Apart from attacking humans, the animals ravage the crops at regular intervals. Monkeys, found here, mostly live on leaves and fruits. However, loss of tree cover has triggered food shortage for these simian species.