A total of 15 extinct species of monkeys were poisoned and killed by miscreants. The incident took place on Tuesday afternoon at Charmuguria area under Madaripur municipality on Tuesday afternoon. The monkeys took shelter on Madaripur locality searching for food.
The brutal act --which have been posted and went viral on social media platforms-- created panic and distress among locals and netizens.
The locals were angry over the incident as according to them, these monkeys from Madaripur town have been living alongside the people of Charmugaria port for hundreds of years. On Tuesday afternoon, miscreants poisoned some monkeys with the intention of killing them, which subsequently killed 15 monkeys.
Later, few local youths found the dead bodies of 15 monkeys from Madhya Khagdi area of Madaripur Municipality and then buried them. Several people, on the basis of anonymity, said the owner of a local bakery had poisoned the monkeys.
Videos and pictures of monkeys being killed by food poisoning have already gone viral on social media platforms. Many have shared photos and videos and demanded justice for this inhuman act.
According to local and forest department sources, there are at least two and a half thousand monkeys in wards 7 and 9 of Madaripur Sadar municipal area. These monkeys are now scattered in different areas due to food crisis. The government recently launched a 7-day programme to feed them, which ended this week.
According to local sources, the monkeys started living in the locality in several groups due to acute food crisis. Some of these monkeys are voluntarily fed by the locals in the morning and afternoon. However, some hungry monkeys often attack people’s house after not getting food.
According to some locals, on Tuesday morning, some people mixed poisonous substances in the food and fed it to the monkeys. After eating that food, the monkeys fell to the ground.
At around 5:30 pm, seeing blood coming out of the monkey’s mouth, some local youths went to the monkeys and tried to feed them water. However, they could not survive and later died.
In this regard, the local human rights activist Subal Biswas said, “People should treat every animal well, not just monkeys. Animals are intimately involved with us. If a person cannot show sympathy for animals, then that person cannot show sympathy for other people either.”
Forest officials have visited the spot after hearing the news of monkey poisoning. Tapas Kumar Sengupta, forest officer-in-charge of Madaripur district, said, “We gave food to the monkeys on Monday. In accordance with the government’s 7-day programme, we fed those monkeys. There is no problem with food.
However, those who killed the monkeys by applying poison have committed the most heinous crime. People from our forest department visited the site. We will take legal action against those who have done this. Besides, I have informed the matter to the local MP Shahjahan Khan, Deputy Commissioner and all concerned.”
In this regard, the convener of Madaripur Unnayan Sangram Parishad Masud Parvez said, “This act of killing the monkeys was very inhuman.
Monkeys are the tradition of Madaripur. For hundreds of years, these monkeys have lived among humansas neighbours. Till this incident, noneof us ever killed them. Some miscreants have killed these monkeys and we want justice.”
