Dozen monkeys found dead in Uttar Pradesh’s Aonla reserve forests
Eminent wildlife conservationist Dr Vijay Prakash Singh, who is also convenor of Terai Nature Conservation Society (TNCS), suspected pesticide to be the reason for the sudden death of monkeys.
A dozen monkeys were found dead in mysterious circumstances in the Aonla reserve forests of Mohammadi range in south Kheri division on Tuesday.
Their carcasses were found scattered in the forests. Divisional forest officer (DFO), south Kheri, Sameer Verma said, “Local forest staff recovered nine carcasses on Monday night. The rest were recovered on Tuesday.”
He said, “A post-mortem was carried out on the carcasses by veterinarians.”
After a preliminary inquiry, the DFO ruled out foul play. He said he suspected ‘heart failure’ to be the reason for the deaths.
However, eminent wildlife conservationist Dr Vijay Prakash Singh, who is also convenor of Terai Nature Conservation Society (TNCS), suspected pesticide to be the reason for the sudden death of monkeys.
Singh said, “The residue of pesticides cannot be traced after 24 hours, However, heart failure en masse is somewhat surprising.”
Singh suggested post-mortem by experts of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izzatnagar.