AP monkeys raid homes for water bottles

Sweating it out

While the Telangana and Jagan heat were causing heartburn to politicians of Andhra Pradesh,  the unprecedented heat wave had driven dogs and monkeys into a rage in Hyderabad and parts of Telangana.

Hordes of red monkeys entered homes and apartments in Hyderabad in search of cold water bottles and cool shades. They even attacked women and children who came in the way, say city police and municipal officials.

Rukmini Nair of Gandhinagar, in the heart of Hyderabad, said the primates took away only the cold water bottles from her fridge in the apartment . When she tried to stop them she was attacked and was subsequently administered vaccines at the Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) for bites and scratches she sustained.

A police inspector from the Chikkadpally locality says that in May alone 25 cases of monkey attacks — mostly over cold water bottles — were received, as well as four cases of simians fighting over food baskets. Most of the victims were women and children.
Scorching temperature has also led to many cases of dog bites in the city. About 720 dog bites were reported in the city in May — an unusual number in summer, the IPM officials said.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has a special wing to tackle animal menace in the city, which works in collaboration with the wildlife wing of the Forest Department and the local zoo to handle dogs, stray cattle, birds and monkeys.

“We have saved thousands of birds from the heat this year, and also caught 182 monkeys,” said Wahid, curator of the Nehru Zoological Park.