KANPUR: As has been the trend here at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur for years, monkey-men and langurs along with their handlers have been hired to shoo away monkeys causing problems to the spectators.
The venue, currently hosting the second Test between India and Bangladesh, is situated close to river Ganges so it's surrounded by natural flora and fauna. When not hosting matches, it becomes home to animals like monkeys and dogs.
These monkey-men are trained to scare away the monkeys. They mimic the hoots and screams of langurs, who are considered the natural enemy of monkeys.
"They (monkey-men) whistle and make sounds which can scare away a group of monkeys," a Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) official told TNIE.
It is learnt that the stadium has become a home to around 250-300 monkeys and they snatch away food items of the spectators as most of the stands at the facility are uncovered.
"The stadium belongs to the sports directorate of Uttar Pradesh government and it has leased out the venue to the UPCA. As a part of our routine exercise before hosting any match, the state association holds a meeting of all departments including police, forest, municipality and puts the issues it is facing across them,” the official said.
“The departments concerned are well equipped to handle these issues and they deal with it as we cannot hire monkey-men or langurs. The forest department sends skilled monkey-men and langurs along with their handlers. The municipality sends dog catchers and so on," added the UPCA official.
Dr Sankay Kapoor, the UPCA's venue director has also spoken about the measures taken by the association to prevent monkey menace ahead of the match and said the departments concerned have put all arrangements in place to make sure the match goes on smoothly.
Notably, the monkey-men were also hired by the Indian government when it organised the G20 Summit in the national capital, which has been infested by monkeys, last year.