‘No monkey death due to starvation at Asola’

Two weeks after reports claimed that over a thousand monkeys may have died in Delhi’s Asola Bhatti wildlife sanctuary after their food supply was purportedly stopped, a preliminary inquiry has claimed that no simian had died at the facility.

Following the reports, Delhi lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung had ordered an inquiry into the alleged mistreatment of the simians rehabilitated at the shelter, the probing committee has said that no such evidence was found. “The committee, during the course of the inquiry, got the entire sanctuary combed, but did not find any carcass. Also, when animals die, vultures feed on the decaying flesh. But no such incident was noticed,” a senior Delhi government official said.

A report in this regard will be submitted to the L-G soon, the official added.

Constituting the committee, a statement by L-G House earlier had said: “The attention of the Delhi government has been invited to press reports regarding the condition of monkeys in the Asola Bhatti wildlife sanctuary. Inter alia, the government has noted that the monkeys have reportedly not been fed since December 4.”

On January 8, the committee had sought the opinion of Iqbal Malik, a primatologist and an ethologist, who stated that the diet given to monkeys is only to supplement their regular diet.

It forms about 20-22 per cent of their diet as monkeys mostly forage for food and “are too smart to starve,” she said.

She added: “Monkeys are extremely adaptable mammals who feed on hundreds of things like leaves, flowers, ants, birds, buds, eggs, insects etc. They can easily venture out of the sanctuary to forage in neighbouring areas.”

The report further said that “the alleged reduction in numbers of rhesus monkeys in Asola Bhatti wildlife sanctuary could only be a perceived notion as no scientific population study has ever been undertaken.”