Kendrapara, June 26: Experts from the state forest department captured a monkey that had apparently let loose a reign of terror in the urban areas of the township for the past week.

The male monkey that had been on a rampage injured around 20 residents at Ekanakhandi, Mankarpur and Suneilo of the town. The animal used to target mainly children.

“The male monkey had turned unruly and attacked people. After complaints against the monkey’s vandalism poured in, wildlife officials of the forest department got to the act and captured it,” said forest range officer Ashok Kumar Jena.

Initially, the officials attempted to cage the monkey. But, with the animal being too shrewd, it disappeared in no time, apprehending captivity.

“Circumstances compelled us to use sedatives through tranquillising rubber bullets to tame the animal,” said the official.

The monkey often got the better of the forest personnel, who had sweated out under scorching heat in their attempt to catch it alive. With curious onlookers enjoying the operation, the monkey experts tried every possible trick. They offered banana and other fruits to it. But, the animal probably gauged the deceptive ploy and kept jumping from one place to the other.

The captured monkey was later released in the wild into the unmanned forest areas of neighbouring Jajpur district.

Quite often, this coastal district is bearing the brunt of simian menace. From time to time, almost all of the 1,542 revenue villages are by and large hit by monkey-induced violence and vandalism. Apart from launching attack on humans, the animals ravage the crops and vegetable cultivation at regular intervals. Monkeys found in these parts are mostly leaf and fruit eating animals. But, loss of tree cover has triggered food shortage for these itinerant simian species.