The growing illegal wildlife and bushmeat trade in the country has not spared even the monkeys. Shocking incidents of mass slaughter of gray langurs have occurred in Rajanandgaon forest division of Chhattisgarh. The grey langur is protected under Schedule 2 of Wildlife Protection Act 1972 updated in 1991.
According to local conservationists, hundreds of monkeys have been killed by hacking during the last few days in Rajanandgaon . They said the pieces of these monkeys were dried up dispatched for consumption after processing and packaging. The DFO, denying the magnitude of the incident, said when teams of officials were sent to various sites few remains of monkeys’ tails and skins were found.
local wildlife activist and eyewitness, Anees Goswami, said mass slaughter of monkeys was happening for the past five-six days, just about two kms away from the forest check post on the banks of River Shivnath, tributary of Mahanadi. “We noticed groups of people probably belonging to Bandesar region of Bastar district, who were taking shelter in the adjoining Devvadvi forest,” he said.
The forests of Central India in contiguity with Odisha have prolific population of various species of monkeys. When Anees visited the area with a group of local people, he was shocked. “It appeared to be a wide carpet like view of chopped body parts of large number of monkeys, which was spread out along the river bank to dry under the sun,” he said. He added further saying as per the information of local villagers, the dried up the meat after it was boiled, processed and packed. According to the local villagers this meat was then transported in vans, outside the forest. later, when Goswami, along with the locals spoke to the poachers, to elicit information. It was learnt that this meat was not only stored for their own consumption but also sold to the neighbouring villages of Pankhajur area, near Raipur.
However, as soon as these local persons informed forest officials, the poachers disappeared the next day.
Rajanandgaon forest division DFO Arun Prasad, however appeared oblivious of the incident. He refuted the claims of the local people and eyewitnesses saying based on their complaint when the team of forest personnel were sent, only few remains of body parts as tails, skins etc were found. However, a preliminary report has been lodged and the collected samples from the site will soon be sent for verification.
President of Chhatitsgarh wildlife society AMK Bharos expressed surprise as to how such activities could have been possible within a stone’s throw of forest outpost for the past week. He condemned the Forest department for its negligence and did not rule out possibilities of possible connivance of the local forest personnel and the poachers.
Bushmeat trade of jackal, mongoose, fox etc. is active under cover in many parts of country. Till the past few years ago poachers and nomadic tribe from Andhra Pradesh would visit parts of Bastar to kill snakes. They would pack the processed meat and export to Africa, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China and other countries through agencies. This modus operandi is now being repeated in case of monkeys too. Bharos argued that they can’t be people from Bastar but other tribe coming en route Bastar.
State Principal Chief conservator of forest wildlife Ramprakash said that investigations have been ordered and such claims can be authenticated only after the process is over. He, however, expressed surprise as to how monkeys/ gray langurs (hanuman) that have religious significance in Indian mythology can be slaughtered for meat.