Conflicts, conflicts, and more conflicts! No, I am not here referring to the warring nations but the warring interests of man and animals! Whenever we talk about man-animal conflict, the picture that springs immediately to mind is that of a leopard, tiger, hyena, elephant, or even a fox venturing into human settlements primarily in the fringed (near forests/thickets) rural areas. Now, that may be so because of the excessive hype created by sections of the media, but do animals conflict with humans only in rural patches? No, such conflicts are taking place constantly and even growing by degrees and magnitude in urban areas as well! Now, you will exclaim: Yes, the stray dogs (I would call them street rather than stray for obvious reasons) vs people, particularly during nighttime! Well, you could be right but, again, this is not the conflict that majorly affects urban localities and housing societies these days. Wild dog menace is again over-hyped, with a majority of dogs merely trying to act as your night watchmen during the wee hours, and this trouble can be easily contained by honest and systematic sterilisation (of dogs, though humans need it more), sensible driving (no zooming on bike riding three), and by befriending dogs in your locality. Children should be taught not to tease the dogs unnecessarily, and nursing homes and meat shops should handle their waste more responsibly.
Then what other conflict am I talking about? It is the monkey menace! Yes, day by day the number of stray monkeys is growing in urban residential areas and these fearless souls do not hesitate from entering homes and stealing goodies from the refrigerators or even from the hands of a child or old person! It is another matter that the human might be hurt in the process because of fright or accidentally during snatching. Now can we really blame the monkeys? Just put your prejudice aside for a moment and look at their dilemma- their green patches in urban areas are fast falling into the clutches of unscrupulous builders (some being claimed by the government for some development projects). While human beings are given compensatory residence elsewhere, no such consideration – or even a fleeting thought- is made for these bunch of Ram Bhakt descendants. Yes, other living things lose a home, like birds, bees butterflies, and small animals but they cannot invade and sustain in urban areas and mostly perish- again, no thought is spared to their importance in biodiversity and our very biosphere! The fact that we, humans also lose our lungs (green cover) is totally unmentionable!
Now, coming back to the monkeys. It is a pain to watch thin, malnourished babies clinging with all their might to equally underfed mothers (I wonder if they have any milk in their bodies to feed the babies), the precarious way they have to move about – on electric cables or barbed wires. The way they are forced to live- on extremely hot or extremely cold (depending on weather) tin sheds or open rooftops. Can you really blame them for trying to find food in the roots of your expensively potted plants, or hygienically sorted kitchens? The conflicts occur here and sometimes get very, very ugly when desperate monkeys attack those trying to chase them. Even a mock attack can lead to fatal- mostly accidental- injuries as are reported many times. It is a defence mechanism for monkeys, but a major issue for the human populace. Why should residential colonies bear the brunt of biodiversity destruction, and why should the monkeys have to live a life worse than death? Where is the solution? For the forest officials, these monkeys are an urban menace and come under municipalities just like the cattle, but the Nagar Nigam officials very conveniently claim the forest should be rehoming them! In this passing the buck game, both the conflicting parties continue to be in conflict! Would it not be proper for both the forest and municipality to come together to rehabilitate monkeys that have been turned stray as a fallout of habitat destruction? And, should not the governments intervene in this very serious issue?
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