Ramechhap, February 17

Villagers in scores of VDCs of Ramechhap district have been terrorised with the regular presence of large number of monkeys of late.

Folks at Pakarbas, Salu, Sunarpani, Kathjor and Manthali, among other VDCs, have become regular victims of monkey attacks. “The monkeys are in hundreds and they not only destroy our crops, vegetables and fruits in the fields but also take away our foodstuff and cooking utensils filled with food from the kitchen,” complained the locals.

Though the locals sought help from various organisations and groups to mitigate the monkey terror, no substantial solution to the problem has been found so far. Last year, the locals had urged government agencies to help them control monkey terror in the district. However, the requests fell on deaf ears.

Shyam Prasad Bhattarai of Salu said there were around 5,000 to 7,000 monkeys in nearby forest. Bimala Shrestha of Pakarbas complained that a herd of monkeys that came from the nearby forest had taken away all the maize kept in her home. Tej Bahadur Karki of Sunarpani said scores of locals were time and again injured in monkey attacks.

The locals said they did not leave their homes even for daily chores due to the fear that herds of monkeys would enter their houses and destroy their belongings in their absence. “At least a family member must stay at home all the time for security,” said locals.