Farmer puts banner with tiger photo to scare monkeys

In the never ending conflict with wild animals, farmers look to gain an upper hand by coming up with innovative scare tactics.

In order to scare the army of monkeys raiding his coconut plantation at Kadumane in Sankalakariya in Karkala taluk, farmer Aulin Serrao has mounted a banner with a colourful photograph of a ferocious tiger.

When the banner rustles due to the breeze, it appears as if the tiger is moving around. “The banner has indeed scared the daylights out of the monkeys,” Aulin said with a triumphant smile.

After mounting the banner with the picture of tiger, the monkey menace has minimised, Serrao said.

Monkeys, plundering his plantation, used to destroy a minimum of 25 to 30 tender coconuts in the past. Now due to the banner, simians have stopped straying into the plantation.

Now, he has plans to mount banners on all four sides of his plantation.

He had been engaged in farming for many years and cultivates coconut, arecanut along with paddy. As the farmland is situated on the banks of River Shambhavi, he has been at the receiving end due to the wild animals’ menace.

Besides monkeys, bisons, peacocks and other animals keep raiding the farm. “We can not kill these animals and birds but chase them with scare tactics,” he said.

Farmers elsewhere use laser torches, drums or domesticated monkeys to chase away the army of monkeys.