SRIKAKULAM: In a shocking incident, a total 45 monkeys, including some baby simians and females were found dead near the roadside at Silagam village under Kaviti Mandal in Srikakulam district.
The forest officials said the cause of death is being investigated.
According to the officials, they got an alert that carcasses of monkeys were lying near the road at Silagam village.
Speaking to TOI, Forest Range Officer, Kasibugga range, A Murali Krishna Naidu, said that the perpetrators might have killed the monkeys somewhere and they dumped the dead monkeys at Silagam village. The villagers said that Silagam has no monkeys and the presence of monkeys were found near Mandasa, around 30 kms from Silagam. It was a shocking to find so many monkeys being killed. We have never come across such an incident, he added.
Some local villagers who noticed the carcasses after a foul stench, immediately informed the forest and police personnel. The locals believe that the miscreants killed the monkeys by allegedly poisoning them. They also alleged that the monkeys were killed after having poisonous bananas.
The actual reasons for the death of the monkeys will be known only after getting the post-mortem report. We will form a special team to probe the incident and nab the culprits involved, said DFO, Srikakulam, E Harika.
Post-mortem on the dead monkeys were conducted on Tuesday evening and all the 45 animals were buried in the presence of the revenue and police personnel.
The forest officials and the locals suspect that it could be the handiwork of some people who could not bear the money menace. We are making inquiries in the surrounding villages as well. We are trying to trace the miscreant with the help of police, they added.
We could not rule out the involvement of people of Odisha. Few locals said that some people from Odisha dumped the dead monkeys and fled the spot, the forest officials added.
Based on the complaint from the forest officials, the police will register a case under relevant sections of IPC apart from Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty towards Animals Act-1960 to investigate the case.
