Inspite of an advisory issued by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau in 2012 about keeping langurs in captivity, trading, hiring or training these simians being a punishable offence under the Wildlife Protection Act, langurs are being kept in captivity by madaris at various places in Uttarakhand, especially in the Rishikesh area where these animals are hired to scare away macaques.
Surprisingly, the chief wildlife warden has given permission for a langur to be kept in captivity at an ashram which has elicited criticism from wildlife activists.
In a letter to the WCCB additional director SB Negi, People for Animals, Uttarakhand member secretary Gauri Maulekhi has stated that the illegal use of langurs was brought to the notice of the Uttarakhand chief wildlife warden SS Sharma in October this year along with the name and mobile phone number of the supplier.
Sharma then directed the Rajaji national park director to take necessary action and lodge a police complaint. “However, a few days later, a langur was strangulated while being made to 'guard' an ashram in Rishikesh by a madari. Upon investigation, we found that Sharma had granted permission to the manager of Geeta Bhawan, Swargashram to keep a trained langur provided it is bought from a licensed dealer.
Are licensed owners of wild animals permitted to sell them to madarisIJ Nobody deals in langurs and even licensed dealers of wild animals are not allowed to capture (Section 48b WlPA),” she states in the letter.
According to Maulekhi, this order has resulted in more langur infants being trapped in the forests and their mothers shot down.These infants are now being 'trained' by madaris to be employed at various ashrams and other buildings in Uttarakhand to keep the macaques away.
“Judging by the sudden spurt of madaris and langurs in the State carrying a license issued by the CWW, it is suspected that this blatant crime is being aided and knowingly encouraged by an officer despite complete knowledge of the provisions of the Act,” further States Maulekhi while requesting the WCCB additional director to take action against the CWW and instruct him to withdraw all illegal permissions granted so far.
It is worth mentioning here that factors like dwindling food sources in the forests, expanding human settlements and improper garbage disposal are responsible for increase conflict between humans and macaques in the State. To tackle this, many institutions are resorting to hiring langurs to scare away the macaques though this is against the advisory issued last year by the WCCB.