The monkey catchers belonging to Mankadia tribe is in action. Telegraph pictures

Paradip, Aug. 22: They all wear a frail look and are not so well built. However, their emaciated physique belies the inherent skill that they possess. The tribals from Chattarpur hamlet near Kuldiha wildlife sanctuary of Balasore district have been deployed on the task to free the coastal pocket of monkey menace.

The group comprising 18 tribals, belonging to the Mankadia tribe, has been on the task of driving out rowdy simians from Tarapur village under Raghunathpur block in Jagatsinghpur district for the past 24 years.

The state forest department deploys members of the tribal group after rogue monkeys go on a biting spree and terrorise villagers.

“Thanks to these adivasis, the area is free of the simians, at least for sometime,” said one Hrudananda Choudhury, who has been a victim of monkey bite.

“We seek their services whenever monkeys unleash trouble in human settlements. The technique applied by these tribal monkey catchers is innovative,” said Kujang forest range officer Souvagya Kumar Sahu.

“We have put the monkey menace to an end in several places across the state,” said 62-year-old Pratap Kherwada, head of the monkey hunters’ group.

“We often move from one place to another and catch monkey on instruction of the forest department. Apart from free food and lodging, we are given travelling expenses. For each catch, we are paid Rs 1,500,” the team leader said.

“The task of catching monkeys is an age-old profession for us. There were times when we used to kill these animals. However, now we catch them alive and hand them over to forest officials,” he said. ”The monkeys caught by the group are later released in the dense forest in Jajpur district,” said Choudhury.

Pratap said: “For the job, we use ropes made of forest shrubs with loops. Small arrows are used to chase the animals into our trap. Care is taken so that no physical harm is caused to the animals.”

Chattarpur hamlet nestled near Nilgiri sub-division is a tale of backwardness and poverty. The tribal village is inhabitated by 700 people. The poor populace desperately needs government aid but it is hardly available. For the 100-odd families living below poverty line, implementation of Rs 2 per kilo rice is erratic.

Middlemen and corrupt PDS stockists siphon off food grains. Though there is a school in the village, teachers rarely turn up. All these hint at a life full of deprivation and neglect.

As a tribal rued: “We sustain on what the government pays us to catch monkeys. All of us are landless and also sell forest produce to make ends meet. However, that has become difficult after forest acts came into force.”

Paradip, Aug. 22: They all wear largely frail look and are also not so well built. But their emaciated physique belies the inherent skill that they possess.

Having come all the way from a far-flung mountainous hamlet in northern part of the state, they are on the task to free this coastal pocket of monkey menace.

Since past 24 hours, the group comprising 18 tribals from non-descript Chatarpur hamlet in close proximity of Kuldiha wildlife sanctuary of Balasore district skillfully have managed to drive out rowdy simian species fromTarapur village under Raghunathpur block in Jagatsinghpur distrct.

The tribal group was pressed into service by a harried state forest department after rogue monkeys went on biting spree and held the locals in the village virtually under hostage. Thanks to these hardworking Adivasis, the rowdy monkeys have left and at least for sometime, there would be no monkeying around in the village, remarked Hrudananda Choudhury.

Incidentally, Choudhury is among the over 100 villagers injured in the monkey biting.

“Whenever the monkeys create disturbance, our services are sought. We have put monkey menace to an end in several places of the state. Besides at Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, we have covered most of coastal districts to drive away the monkeys.”, said 62-year-old Pratap Kherwada, the head of the monkey hunters’ group.

'We move from one place to the other for most part of the year. As the forest department asks us, we begin the mission to catch monkeys alive. We are paid the traveling expenses, free food besides accommodation. For each catch, we are paid Rs 1, 500,' the team leader said.

“We from mankadia tribe are primitive settlers living in and around Kuldiha forest since long,” he said.

The practice of catching monkey is our age-old profession. There were times when we were killing these animals. But now, we catch them alive and hand them over to the forest people.

Elaborating on the method to cath moneys,Pratap said, 'We use ropes made up from forest shrubs with loops. Besides small arrows are used to chase the animals to fall into our trap. Care is taken so that no physical harm is caused to the animals. We are skilled in observing minutely the movement of monkeys. That’s why we succeed whereas highly paid forest staffs fail to catch these jumping animals'

The tiny Chattarpur hamlet nestled along the hilly landscape near Nilgiri sub division is a tale of backwardness and poverty. The village has about 7,00 population and is a cent percent tribal-inhabited pocket. Implementation of Rs 2-a-kg rice is erratic in the village though all the 100-odd families in the tribal village come under below poverty line category. The middlemen and corrupt PDS stockists eat up the food grains as the tribal beneficiaries receive the subsidized rice once in a while. Though there is a school, but the village teachers rarely turns up. That’s why, none in the village has been able to pass middle English (class VII) the group of tribals alleged.

We sustain on what the government pays us to catch monkeys. All of us are landless. Our other source of income is from selling forest produce. But that has come down drastically after forest acts came into force, they rued.

“We seek their services whenever monkeys unleash trouble in human settlements. While forest department teams tame monkeys by shooting tranquilizer at them, the technique applied by tribal monkey catchers is innovative,” remarked Kujang forest range officer, Souvagya Kumar Sahu. The monkeys caught by the group would be later released in the dense forest in Jajpur district, he added.