We don't have enough monkey catchers: MCD

Monkey menace, that has riddled the city for long, does not show signs of ending anytime soon. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has now admitted that it’s facing a shortage of monkey catchers.

Monkey menace, that has riddled the city for long, does not show signs of ending anytime soon. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has now admitted that it’s facing a shortage of monkey catchers.

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The civic agency has a team of eight catchers, who are supposed to make rounds of all the 12 zones in the city, a task they are finding difficult to carry out.

"We have eight catchers currently but they can't take care of the entire city. We have been trying to rope in more people for some time now but not many have displayed interest in taking up the job because of religious sentiments and risks involved," said an MCD official.

The civic agency pays a total of Rs. 450 per monkey trapped by a catcher.

The catchers are provided small and big cages to keep monkeys, who are then relocated to the Asola Bhatti Mines.

The MCD claims it is not their job to catch monkeysbut on the High Court's directions, they have been doing so.

The civic agency has caught a total of 10,863 animals in the past two-and-a-half years. While 3,419 monkeys were captured in 2007, 3,455 were caught in 2008 and 2,971 were captured in 2009.

Till June this year, 1,018 monkeys have been caught.