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Freed simians found dead
KATHMANDU, MAY 06 -
Over 30 captive monkeys released from Lele Breeding Center, Lalitpur, around four months ago were found dead inside Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park.
Mangal Man Shakya of Wildlife Watch Group (WWG) said more than 30 rhesus simians were found dead inside the park.
Dismayed at the news, conservationists said the government inability to manage habitat for the monkeys is the major reason for the death.
Authorities freed the monkeys from the breeding center without taking care of the outside sorrounding, said Shakya.
However, officials of Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation were not available for comments. A total of 280 simians were released by the department in different phases since this January.
The government was also censured for failing to work for rehabilitation and reintroduction plans as per the guidelines of The World Conservation Union (IUCN).
However, the government decision to ban the captive breeding of animals was hailed by national and international conservationists. The move was praiseworthy, said Shakya.
“But the decision is faulty in the sense that it lacked rehabilitation and pre-introduction plans to introduce animals into the wild environment. As a result, monkeys are dying,” he said.
CITES expert Ravi Sharma Aryal said there are certain guidelines and rules to follow before releasing the captive animals into the wild environment like health check-up, neutering process, training to help them hunt their prey and discourage human contact, among others.
“But the government did so without keeping in mind the problems freed monkeys face,” he said.
Meanwhile the wildlife department on Wednesday submitted a letter to Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, requesting him to pay attention to the high number of death of the released monkeys.
Posted on: 2010-05-07 09:40
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