Unemployed to sterilize monkeys in India

[kenosis]

NEW DELHI - A northern Indian state said Thursday it planned to use unemployed youths to sterilize monkeys to try to combat aggressive primates who have been raiding farms. The idea drew immediate condemnation from conservationists, who said the plan was unscientific and would likely worsen the problem

Comments

[liliduh]

I concur with your last sentence.

[mira_yamcha]

I wish I could remember exactly where, but I saw a video not too long ago where someplace like a hospital or something was using their own monkey on a really long chain as a guardsman against wild monkeys. It seemed to work really well there. But that place was fairly rural.
It does seem cruel and not the ideal answer....

But basically, this would be the creation of a monkey army.... And I don't care what you say, that's pretty cool.

(obviously that last sentance doesn't apply to the professional anthropologist in me)
x
x

[mindfulness]

Monkey army eh? Didn't you see Planet of the Apes! Nooooooooo.

[edith_jones]

On top of everything else, wouldn't seizing and sterilizing monkeys be a damnably dangerous job for these [presumably untrained] unemployed youth? The human angle of this needs to be examined as well. I certainly wouldn't want to go up to an angry monkey with a nutcracker in my hands! [Well, I am thinking of James Herriot castrating bull calves, but nonetheless, it should be qualified professionals doing this if anyone at all!]

[le_bebna_kamni]

I'm not sure what to think of the actual proposition itself, but I'm sure it's possible to catch monkeys and tranquilize them (e.g., put out food attractive to monkeys filled with a narcotic or some such) without undue risk to the people trying to catch them. Now whether they're actually doing that or employing another method...who knows?