Thiruvananthapuram Zoo authorities’ efforts to catch grey langur fruitless
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The elusive female grey langur continued to play hide and seek with the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo authorities on the fourth consecutive day on Saturday. The white-haired monkey with a black face and ears is a rescued animal brought from Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park, Tirupati, to the city zoo on June 5.
With the public alerting the authorities on spotting the animal at various places, including Kuravankonam, Ambalammukku and Neyyattinkara, they went on a harrowing chase, but in vain. By 4 pm on Saturday, the authorities spotted the four-year-old langur atop a tall tree near the lion enclosure. They decided to send a man up to see whether the langur is perched on the crevice of the tree or not.
Until then, the staff were depending on binoculars to spot the monkey. He came down and shared the info that the langur was not to be seen.
On Saturday morning, a doctor based at Kuravankonam alerted the authorities that he spotted a monkey atop a tree in his compound. Armed with all paraphernalia, the team reached there and scanned the area only to confirm that it was a local bonnet macaque that had been on the loose. Later, they got another false alarm from Ambalamukku.
“We even went to Neyyattinkara. But it was also a false lead. On Saturday evening, the zookeepers spotted the monkey atop a tree next to Leo and Nayla’s (the latest big cats in the zoo) enclosure,” Dr Jacob Alexander, senior veterinary surgeon told TNIE.
The zoo keepers climbed the tree to trap the animal, but they failed. The staff had to climb down when the langur decided to continue its hide-and-seek game.