Barang: Monkey menace has reached a tipping point here with the death of a 67-year-old woman after she was bitten by a rogue monkey at Khairapada Tuesday.
According to sources, the incident happened in the morning when the woman —Harsha Das— had gone to take bath in a pond on the village outskirts.
“A rogue monkey jumped off a tree to land on Das and bit her. On being informed, family members reached the spot and rushed a profusely bleeding Das to a nearby health centre where the doctors declared her ‘dead on arrival’,” said a neighbour of Das.
The incident spread like wildfire with angry villagers taking to the streets and demanding justice for the deceased. The agitating villagers blamed the Forest officials for failing to curb the rising monkey menace in the area. Sources said at least a dozen of monkey-bite cases have surfaced in the area over the past couple of months.
Informed, Nandankanan police, along with city Forest officials, reached the spot and placated the agitators after providing Rs 10,000 to the next kin of the deceased from the Red Cross fund.
Later in the day, a team of experts from Nandankanan reached the village to nab the rogue monkey. Following two hours of efforts, it was in the afternoon when the team finally managed to nab the monkey after tranquilising it.
