How Do You Keep Monkeys From Making Mischief?

VRINDAVAN, INDIA, January 5, 2025 (Kuow NPR, by Omkar Khandekar): Thieving, hostage taking monkeys are as common as pilgrims in Vrindavan, the holy Hindu town by the Yamuna river in northern India. Monkeys are everywhere: hanging by power lines, sliding off sloping temple rooftops and rummaging through garbage bins for snacks. Residents say monkeys also sneak into their kitchens or run away with their laundry, drying on the flat rooftops typical of this part of India. A few years ago, the town’s legislator Hema Malini raised the matter of the cheeky monkeys in the Indian Parliament. “Please do not treat the matter lightly,” she warned her giggling colleagues. “It is a very, very important matter.” Locals say monkeys have always lived in Vrindavan, an ancient city that many Hindus believe is the childhood stomping grounds of the beloved God Krishna. Residents and pilgrims alike feed them.

The taking of glasses as hostages and other thievery — that’s new, say residents. And it’s because this town, once dotted with fruit trees and surrounded by forests by the river, has become victim to its own tourist success: to accommodate growing numbers of visitors, investors are hacking down its green cover forests to put up hotels and highways. Monkeys have lost much of their food resource and native habitat, and moved into the city. Instead of living off charity, like the monkeys of yore, they’ve turned to crime to get by. Vrindavan is a dramatic example of wild animals taking root in urban areas after losing their habitat. But it’s hardly the only place in India. Vrindavan’s nearest neighbor, Mathura, also has predatory, thieving monkeys. “If we don’t become aware that we are all part of a system, that we are all interdependent, we are going to set ourselves forward for huge struggles in the future,” says Jaya Dhindaw. She is an urban development expert at the research group, World Resources Institute based in New Delhi.

Much more on India’s human-animal conflict at source.
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