Jammu, July 29: Now anyone caught feeding monkeys on Srinagar- Jammu Highway would have to pay a heavy fine, as the Wildlife department has decided to go tough against the practice.
 Officials said that with simian menace spreading in many localities in the city and at times becoming major cause of accidents regular teams would be sent to the Highway to debar people, particularly tourists to feed the simians. 
 Though the department has installed big signboards all along the highway till Nandani and Dumail, but at times these warning are being ignored by the people who feed the monkeys with fruits, bread and other eatables.
 Chief Forest Conservator (Wildlife) of the Jammu division, Upinder Pachnanda said, “It is illegal to feed the wild animals and we have decided to go tough on the  people doing so. Apart from imposing fines, we have decided to detain them”. “People should realize that they have broken the law,” he added.
 Though officials said the move could not prove foolproof, but it could help them to create awareness among the people that the wild animals shall not be made dependent for food.
 Department is also quite concerned about the increase in the population of the simians which has created lot of problem for the villages near the highway. The conflict between human and wild monkeys has become a routine matter which led to loss of property and injuries to villagers.
  “Most of them have become dependent on the humans for their food, thus they prefer to stay close to highway and some of them stroll in human habitations destroying the crops and harassing the population”, said a villager near Nagrota.
 These animals have wrecked havoc within the city many of the localities like Panjthirthi, Kachi Chawani, Parade, Rehari, Amphalla and even comparatively farther Janipur areas have been badly hit.
  “They tear apart the clothes, flower plants and at times attack the children. We have called the Wildlife department number of times, but they have also not shown much interest to capture these”, said Saroj Kumari, a resident of city.
 However a senior Wildlife official said that it is very difficult for them to keep monkeys in captivity. “We cannot keep them confined to one place because of space problem and second it is difficult to feed them for such a long period”, said a field staff.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 29 Jul 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 29 Jul 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 30 Jul 2011 00:00:00 IST