TIRUCHY: At least 24 monkeys, including six female monkeys, were found dead under mysterious circumstances at Nedungur village in Tiruchy district on Sunday. While the cause of death can be conclusively established only after a postmortem, forest department officials said the monkeys could have been poisoned and dumped at the spot.
A senior forest official said, “Although there are monkeys in nearby reserve forest areas, it is unlikely that all the dead monkeys are from the same area.” Officials also pointed out that the dead simians did not bear any visible injuries on their bodies. The possibility of poisoning is high. All the monkeys were found dead in one area. We are looking at all possibilities, they added.
It may be noted that the poisoning of wild animals, including peacocks, wild boars and monkeys, is a usual practice by farmers to stop animals from damaging their crops. With the samba harvest season around the corner, death of 24 monkeys at a single location has raised concerns.