Langur mimics to scare off monkeys during G20 Summit

Cutouts of langurs might welcome guests for the G20 Summit in New Delhi. People might be around those cutouts to mimic the sounds of langurs. The Delhi government, along with the Centre, has been working on various projects to beautify the national capital ahead of the global meeting. All these preparations aim to ensure that the G20 dignitaries do not get to see any 'monkey business'.

Considering this, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and the Forest Department of the city government have acted to prevent monkeys from causing disruptions during the significant G20 summit scheduled for September 9-10.

“A government official said that they are covering all the important sites, including the main venue of the Summit and hotels where foreign dignitaries and delegates would be staying, to ensure that the monkey hordes are not visible there during the event.”

Satish Upadhyay, NDMC vice chairman, said that the Delhi forest department is coordinating the temporary steps to ensure that monkeys remain inside the Ridge and do not cause disruptions to the motorcades of dignitaries.

Upadhyay said, "We have put up the langur cut-outs on an experimental basis, and we will have to see how much actual impact they have on the monkey density. We have also trained people who are experts in making sounds similar to langurs. They will deploy them at various sites across New Delhi to keep monkeys in check."

'Change a monkey's mind?'

The council turned to the forest department for a plan due to worries that troops of monkeys may charge in front of the convoys of cars ferrying presidents and prime ministers from the Group of 20 nations.

In a bid to scare away the monkeys, they have also set up life-size cutouts of the langur, and they will also move them around to convince the macaques that they are real.

Men with trained langurs patrolled Delhi's streets for decades, but that practice ended when a court ruled that keeping them in captivity was cruel.

Watchmen in other parts of the city use slingshots and sticks to ward off the animals.

The monkeys rapidly gained wisdom, dismantling the plastic langur with recorded animal sounds within three days.

Some have questioned the effectiveness of the monkey policy. On Wednesday, The Times of India inquired, "What's the number of langur cutouts needed to alter a monkey's perspective?"

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