Humans are the most intelligent creatures on the planet. And some among them keep proving this by coming up with their unique ‘jugaad’ to resolve a problem. Remember how Delhi auto driver’s hack saved passengers from the freezing cold? Even ace actor Anupam Kher had earlier shared pics showing how Indians are the best at coming up with innovative ideas.
Now, residents of Sikandarpur village in UP came up with an odd but effective idea to shoo away monkeys that were creating ruckus in their neighbourhood. When over 2,000 monkeys started disrupting the lives of people in the village, the locals decided to dress up as bears to scare away the monkeys, reported HT.
After the forest officials failed to bring the situation under control, the villagers collected money and bought three bear costumes from a makeup artist for Rs 1,700 each. They then started taking turns in dressing up as bears and began roaming around the village.
“We have now started taking turns in wearing the bear costume and roaming around the village. It was a relative who had told me about the idea and it is actually working,” said village head Ram Lalit Verma.
Although the trick might sound childish and stupid to some, the villagers were able to curb the number of monkey attacks in the vicinity. Around 150 children had been earlier attacked by monkeys in the village, reported Times Now.
Shahjahanpur sub-divisional forest officer M.N. Singh said, “The monkey population is increasing rapidly in the district. We are unable to do much because of lack of funds. Catching monkey costs nearly Rs. 600 and we had called a rescue team from Mathura when we got the fund since 2018. At present, we can only grant permission to people to catch monkeys on their own or through some NGO and we will help them release the monkeys in forest areas.”
Impressed by the result of the bear trick, Singh said he would suggest similar action in other villages too. Earlier, farmers painted a dog to look like a tiger to scare away raiding monkeys. Necessity is the mother of invention and these desi people proved it right!