More fun than...you know

If you've ever lived in a large-ish city, you know that a lot of them have problems with pests like rats and pigeons. Well, that's true in American cities. A city like New Delhi, however, has a rather different pest problem.

The Supreme Court ordered wildlife authorities to catch hundreds of monkeys that roam the Indian capital, often terrorizing residents, and relocate them thousands of miles away, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The roughly 300 Rhesus macaques will be shifted from New Delhi to the dense jungles of Madhya Pradesh state, whose government will receive $54,000 from the federal government to cover the cost of reintroducing the monkeys to the wild, the Hindu reported.

Government buildings, temples and many residential neighborhoods of New Delhi are overrun by an army of macaques. The monkeys scare passers-by, and occasionally bite or snatch food from unsuspecting visitors.

And like pigeons, people feed them, which encourages them to stick around. But I doubt people feed pigeons for the same reason that people feed monkeys...

For years, state animal welfare agencies have tried to rid the capital of the simian scourge, but their efforts have been defeated, in part, by Hindus who believe that monkeys are manifestations of the monkey god Hanuman.

Many feed the monkeys nuts, bread and bananas, encouraging the animals to frequent parks, temples and other public places.

I really don't think many New Yorkers believe in a pigeon god. Some, sure, but not many.

Anyway, check out the ad that was running alongside the article when I initially read it:


How appropriate.