HUBBALLI: In a heartwarming incident, a wild langur allowed people to treat its wounds in a Karnataka town, a few days ago. The incident came to light after a viral video shot on June 5 showed an injured langur, standing at the entrance of a Dandeli hospital of Uttara Kannada district, seeking "treatment".
When the uncertain hospital staff tried to shoo away the primate, those outside decided to lend a helping hand. They asked the doctors and nurses for medicines and bandages to treat the langur. To their surprise, the animal did not harm anyone and responded well to the treatment.
One among the crowd applied ointment on the langur which had multiple injuries possibly by fighting with another langur.
Dinesh Vyas, an eyewitness and owner of a cycle shop in Dandeli explained the incident to The New Indian Express. "It was around 1 pm when two langurs were seen near the hospital of which one had injury marks. The injured langur sat on the entrance door looking for some help. The injured primate did not take banana or any other food offered by the people who were gathered at the hospital. Then we realised that the primate may be in bad condition and is unable to eat anything due to injuries," Vyas said.
"A person asked dressing medicines from the hospital staff and went near the langur who did not seem to have any issues with humans coming close to him. The incident happened at Patil Nursing home on Friday afternoon when the local veterinary hospital had already closed. On Saturday, some youths tried to find the primate to feed it medicines and food, but they could not find it. But few langurs were found roaming in the town and their numbers have increased post lockdown may be due to lack of food," said another eyewitness to the incident.
Rahul Bavaji, a wildlife activist from Dandeli, pointed out that entry of wild animals such as deers and langurs is common to the town. "But the langur coming to the hospital was new. The particular langur is habituated to humans and seen in the market areas of the town. The video of langur at hospital has gone viral and several people have been inquiring about its health on phone and on the internet," he said.