Langur Management

Lindsay Beyerstein

Hordes of rhesus monkeys are besieging New Delhi, teaming up to shake down shoppers for their groceries, and worse:

In 2007, a Delhi deputy mayor died when he fell from his terrace after being attacked by monkeys, a widely publicized episode that spurred the city to step up its efforts to move monkeys to safer environments. Yet such attacks continue. This month 14-year-old girl was seriously injured when she fell from the roof of a five-story residential building after monkeys pursued her.

Monkeys do commonly bite people, and their bite wounds can be extensive,” Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md., wrote in an e-mail. They are smart enough to often attack the face of the person.” [NYT]

Some harried residents fork over $200 a month to a langur handler who brings these larger, scarier monkeys around to urinate on clients’ property. As long as the stench of langur urine hangs in the air, the smaller monkeys scatter. It’s hard to know if this approach is sustainable, though. The rhesus monkeys have already learned to avoid traps over the years. What happens when they figure out that the leashed langurs aren’t dangerous after all? Are we looking at a primate arms race?

Lindsay Beyerstein is an award-winning investigative journalist and In These Times staff writer who writes the blog Duly Noted. Her stories have appeared in Newsweek, Salon, Slate, The Nation, Ms. Magazine, and other publications. Her photographs have been published in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times’ City Room. She also blogs at The Hillman Blog (http://​www​.hill​man​foun​da​tion​.org/​h​i​l​l​m​a​nblog), a publication of the Sidney Hillman Foundation, a non-profit that honors journalism in the public interest.
The text is from the poem “QUADRENNIAL” by Golden, reprinted with permission. It was first published in the Poetry Project. Inside front cover photo by Golden.
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