Monkeys often evoke images of antics that have enriched almost every language through idioms and proverbs hingeing on their unrestrained nature. Now, Nepali monkeys have grabbed headlines, after an interval, less for their mischief than for attempts of the Homo sapiens to monkey with their lives and freedom, and to exile them. On the verge of becoming an endangered species, the red-faced rhesus monkeys are native to the southern parts of Asia. Humans often hold them captive and use them widely for medical tests, as, experts say, most of their genes match ours.

Lax laws and laxer enforcement helped importers and their Nepali agents. The US imported 265,521 primates from around the world between 1981 and 2000. Even as early as 2006, 1,200 people from 21 nations had urged Nepal not only to put the brakes on their export but also to refrain from allowing the setting up of a lab here to experiment on them. The protests had little to do with the fact that most Nepalis worship the monkey god Hanuman but with the ‘potentially dangerous and lethal experiments’ in Washington and Texas. In the past, the government acted its part in the whole monkey business. Now with a writ petition filed with the highest court, one hopes, all will end well. But greater worry is that no one seems to be giving a monkey’s though several foreign-funded projects are said to be making guinea pigs of Nepali humans for similar purposes.