Karnataka CM plans monkey park in Shivamogga

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Tuesday instructed the Forest department to prepare a plan for setting up a monkey park in Shivamogga, which the government believes is the solution to keep the primates from damaging farmers’ crops.

At a meeting to discuss the proposed park, Shimoga MP B Y Raghavendra made a strong case for it. “Monkeys are destroying farmers’ crops in Shivamogga. In Malnad, monkeys are infiltrating fields to consume the horticulture crops. Not just this, monkeys enter homes and vandalize the roofs. Farmers are a scared lot because of this,” Raghavendra said, according to a release from the chief minister’s office.

“That’s why a permanent solution is required. There is land available in the backwaters of the Sharavathi river for a monkey park. We have have fruit-bearing trees that the monkeys can feed on,” said Raghavendra, who is Yediyurappa’s son.

Apparently, Yediyurappa lambasted the Forest department on this matter, accusing officials of neglect. “Officials should plant fruit-bearing trees in forest areas. That you have not done this, despite repeated insistence is the reason for the problem now,” the chief minister said, directing them to prepare a plan for a monkey park.

When Forest officials said they would study a monkey park established in Himachal Pradesh, the chief minister is said to have lost his cool.

“Why do you waste time on conducting studies? Have you done anything that the other states can study? Identify 100 acres of land for the monkey park on an experimental basis. If that works, then we can set up the park somewhere else,” he rebuked officials.