The starving monkeys prancing around Sri Karinjeshwara Temple in Bantwal received food from the Mangaluru-based Animal Care Trust (ACT) recently.
Hundreds of monkeys were depending on ‘Nivedya' (prasadam) given by the temple as well as the food provided by large number of devotees, who were visiting the temple daily. In spite of the lockdown, the monkeys were still provided with ‘Nivediya’.
However, there was a shortage of food supply as devotees were not visiting the temple, stated the Facebook post of Animal Care Trust.
On learning about the starving monkeys, ACT Trustee Suma R Nayak sought help from volunteers. Ramith, one of the volunteers, responded to Suma's request for contacts in Bantwal area by introducing her to Shashikiran, who was living just four kilometres aways from the temple.
Shashikiran immediately volunteered to procure rice and with the help of his friends cook and distribute it to the monkeys.
Later, they sought out the temple manager and with his permission begun to cook rice and distribute it to the monkeys. A donor in Mangaluru donated 100 kgs of bananas for the monkeys. In addition, 50 kg of rice from the stock of Animal Care Trust collected for feeding stray animals was also utilised to feed the monkeys.
The Trust has been feeding over 2,000 animals daily which was possible owing to the support of the donors and general public.
“We will try our best to make sure no animal goes hungry during this unprecedented time," the Facebook post declared.