Taj Mahal police take aim at marauding monkeys with slingshots
Police armed with slingshots are taking aim at troops of
monkeys that harass visitors at India’s Taj Mahal, according to Reuters.
The marauding monkeys forage for food around the entrance to
the 17th century monument in the northern city of Agra, where visitors’ bags
are scanned and food thrown away.
Brij Bhushan, head of the Taj Mahal security force, said
police received locally-made slingshots to fend off the monkeys.
“We found that monkeys get scared by just seeing us
brandishing these slingshots,” he told Reuters.
There are 500-700 rhesus macaques living in and around the
monument. Experts say they are becoming more aggressive as an expanding city
encroaches on their natural habitats.
In November, a monkey snatched a 12-day-old Indian boy from
his mother outside Agra and killed him.
Taj Mahal guards have been told not to attack the monkeys
but to scare them away from tourists, Bhushan said.
Built by a Mughal emperor for his wife, the Taj Mahal has
25,000 visitors daily, rising to 80,000 during the peak tourist season.
Rhesus macaques have also spread havoc in New Delhi,
snatching food and mobile telephones, breaking into homes and terrorizing
people in and around the Indian capital.