Y.S. RANA, CHANDIGARH—SEPT 26—Human feeding is the main reason of monkey menace in Chandigarh, feels Mr Santosh Kumar, Conservator of Forests and Wildlife, Chandigarh. Many people enjoy feeding wildlife because they believe they are helping the animals survive. Seeing wild animals up close may be enjoyable, providing them human-supplied food leads to problems for the wildlife, stated Mr Kumar.
While talking to the reporter, he said that like humans there was a big change in animals’ dietory habits. Easy availability of food was the reason of gathering large number of monkeys in Chandigarh. One can see hoards of monkeys near hotels, shops or other eateries foraging dustbins for left out foods. Wild animals ate left out foods contained ghee, salt, sugar or chemicals quite differ what they ate in the wild. It really was junk food to wild that could lead to some diseases among them which were found in human beings, he warned
Mr Kumar further said that on every Tuesdays and Saturdays, hoards of monkeys gathered around a number of temples across the city to enjoy the taste of ‘ladoos’ because they knew easy availibility of ‘sweet food’ on these days. Wild life raised on human feeding struggled to survive when dispersed from their parent territory, he said.
He disclosed that at Sukhna Lake eight migatory birds from Siberia were found dead. He sent the birds for laboratory examination at Jalandhar to know the cause of death. He was surprised by the revealation of the report that confirmed that out eight, seven birds have been died due to jaundice, he said. So there will be no surprise if some day some one hears that an animal dies of heart attack, or have cold, he says.
“When you feed wild animals you are providing them equivalent of junk food. Instead of eating a wide range of natural foods, they depend on processed foods which are not a part of their diet. It can make them prone to such diseases pertain to humans,” said he
Animals that were fed by people could become aggressive and harass people when they were hungry. “It is the main reason the number of monkey bites have risen in the city,” says he and suggested that there should be a provision of fine to those who fed monkeys in the line of Himachal Pradesh. In the process monkeys have lost their ability to forage for natural foods.
As foods high in salt, ghee, sugar and fried are not considered good for human health so is the case with wild life. So think twice before you feed wild animals. A moment’s pleasure for you may lead to the animal becoming addict to junk food