One lakh fruit trees for monkeys

Seedlings will be covered to protect them from animals

Forest department officials are geared up to plant around one lakh seedlings of fruit-bearing trees in Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary to prevent monkeys from wandering off the campus in search of food.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the forest department is also mulling to cover the seedlings to protect them from getting eaten up by monkeys.

“Since monkeys are mischievous primates, the department is mulling to cover seedlings till the time they grow into fruit-bearing trees. Often it is seen that monkeys eat or destroy saplings,” said a senior official with the forest department.

On whether the department will cover all the one lakh seedlings, the official said, “It is going to be an expensive procedure so we are not thinking of covering all the seedlings.”

“The project is still in the pipeline so we don’t know what are we going to use to cover the seedlings. But we are thinking of covering 15 to 20 seedlings in a 10 by 10 metre radius across the sanctuary,” he added.

Experts said that though some 500 saplings were planted around Delhi Ridge area, most of them were eaten by monkeys.

Though primatologists welcomed the step, they said monkeys feed on almost 90 species of plants, apart from the fruit trees. So the department should consider growing such species as well.

“Monkeys not only eat fruits, they eat flowers, seeds and shrubs comprising 90 species of food plants. It’s a good initiative but the department should plan to grow other 90 species of food plants trees in addition to fruit-bearing trees,” said C R Babu, Emeritus Professor at Delhi University.

Environmentalists said the population of monkeys is multiplying at an alarming rate. “There is a dire need to control their population and the most natural way is through predators. But the sanctuary does not have enough predators. There is an ecological imbalance which is the cause of such enormous population of monkeys in the sanctuary,” Babu said.