KARIMNAGAR: It was only two weeks ago that the Karimnagar Police Department planted saplings using the Miyawaki technique at the Police Training Centre in the city. Monkeys from forest areas in the vicinity have already begun destroying them.
The police, to scare the monkeys away, have unleashed langurs into the plantation site at the training centre. Monkeys usually steer clear of langur territory as the latter is not only twice their size but also equally aggressive.
What’s bizarre is that the police have also hung portraits of langurs outside the training centre to prevent monkeys from destroying the saplings. Interestingly, it’s working. Their presence has become minimal over the past few days, according to sources in the department.
As many as 12,500 saplings were planted at the District Police Training Centre across an acre of land using the Miyawaki technique (of urban afforestation).
Soon after the plantation, packs of monkeys descended on the plot of land and began destroying the saplings. Speaking to Express about the rampant monkey menace in the area, Vice-Principal of the Police Training Centre P Shiva Bhaskar said, “Over the last two weeks, packs of monkeys have been damaging the saplings that were planted recently. Replacing the destroyed saplings with new ones is a tedious task. To prevent the same, we brought in two langurs around 10 days ago. Since then, the monkey menace has come down.”