KOCHI: The once-bustling mini zoo at Kodanad is now overgrown with weeds after the animals here were shifted to the nearby Abhayaranyam. Inside the locked up gates of the zoo, there are some old and rusty cages, worn out battling heavy rain. The place now hosts rescued animals. In one such cage with its roof covered with tarpaulin, a lonely monkey hops around, unaware of the freedom awaiting him. Mathai, the monkey was caught by the Forest Department five months ago from the residence of a nearby church priest. He had been holding the monkey captive for several years locked up in a cage.
“The priest, on questioning, said that he had caught the monkey from a forest adjacent to the place where he worked before. The monkey, according to him, was troubling people there and to help the local people, he had captured it and kept it captive. When he shifted to the new place, he took the animal along with him,” said Dhanik Lal G, Range Forest Officer, Kodanad.
It was the local people who informed the Forest officials about the captive monkey. The officials soon rescued the animal and put him up at Kodanad Zoo. “He has been here for around five months. We fondly call him Mathai as he was called by the priest. He is tamed and we don’t have much trouble with him. He is now used to having people around him,” said another official.
A case was going on at the Kuruppampady Court and recently the court order came to release him back to the forest. “We are planning to release him soon. He is healthy and can fend for himself. We are not disclosing the forest area where he will be released as there is a danger that he will be captured by someone else,” he added.