PERAMBALUR: The monkey menace has been bothering residents of Keezhapuliyur in the district for over a year now. The primates, which enter the houses when inmates are away, have been eating all the food and damaging property.
Over 150 families live in the village situated in Kunnam taluk. All of them depend on agriculture for a livelihood and maize is their main cultivation crop.
Being farm workers, most of the residents leave for their fields in the morning. According to the residents, a troop of over 30 monkeys from the nearby forest area has been regularly breaking into the locked houses. They break the tiled roof, enter the houses and destroy the property inside. Several complaints are given in this regard at Keezhapuliyur panchayat office, Forest Department, and Collectorate have gone in vain, villagers said.
T Lakshmanan, a resident said, "I usually go to work at 7 am every day and return at 11 am. I usually lock my house because there is no one there. When I returned home from work last week, I found that monkeys had broken the roof, entered the house, smashed my TV set and scattered all the clothes stacked on a shelf. They had raided the fridge and also eaten away all the food I had prepared. This has become a regular issue in our village."
Another resident, V Natarajan, said, "The monkeys can be seen atop two private mobile phone towers in the village every day. They break into house after seeing us leave for work. We are losing our property, food and are also irritated. Complaints given to authorities have not yielded any result till now. We are planning to raise funds to catch the monkeys and release them into the forest."
When contacted, an official from the district Forest Department said, "We received a complaint in this regard last week. Since it is summer, monkeys come out of the forest in search of food and water. However, we will inspect the village and take action."