January 31, Kathmandu.
Residents of Pokhara resorted to cutting trees to get rid of monkeys for a while. Ward number 19 of Pokhara Metropolitan city ordered the people residing in its area to get rid of trees around their houses.
“Monkeys have terrorised the Lamachaur and Puranchaur areas. The provincial government also has adopted a policy of resisting the monkey terror for the fiscal year 2023/24. Through this notice, we request ward residents to cooperate by chopping down every tree in their surrounding areas within the next ten days,” a notice issued by Ward Chairperson Pushpendra Pandey.
The ward has launched a dedicated campaign named ‘I will cut my trees’. The mayor of Pokhara Dhanraj Acharya has not approved of the ward’s decision, putting the ward decision at halt. However, the decision reportedly followed chopping down of some trees. Meanwhile, other ward committees in Pokhara are also contemplating the removal of trees.
The case from Pokhara has triggered a debate in the public sphere. While the troubled people see the trees as potential shelters to monkeys, conservationists argue that chopping down trees does not help reducing the damage caused by monkeys since monkeys enter human settlements for food.
The growing population of monkeys has been troubling not just Pokhara but almost every part of the country from east to west. Residents of Chaudandigadhi municipality ward number 5 of Udayapur in eastern Nepal are surprised by the increase in monkey population over the decade. Hundreds of monkeys enter the fields where farmers have planted crops like paddy, wheat, and maize.
“There is nothing for them to eat in the jungle. There used to be Harro, Barro, and Amala, but human beings have not left a trace of those fruits. So, they are raiding our fields,” a farmer shared. “But there is also an unprecedented increase in the number of monkeys. We are puzzled.”
The monkey trouble has escalated so much that a parliamentary committee was concerned. The Agriculture, Cooperative, and Natural Resources Committee of the House of Representatives decided to study the monkey control strategy in the Himachal State of India. A team of MPs, veterinary doctors, and forest rangers will observe the approach behind successful control of monkey population in the Indian state.
In addition to Human-elephant conflict, Human-monkey conflict has emerged as a serious issue in the rural areas of Nepal.