In the article "Memoirs of a naturalist” (Parsiana, March 7-20, 2020) I had made reference to a monkey trespassing in our premises in Bombay. Another incident involving a monkey also deserves mention.
A nomad had captured a baby monkey in order to teach him some tricks. A foreign lady bought this monkey and brought him up in an affluent, comfortable environment. However, six months later she had to return to her home country and it was not possible for her to take the monkey with her.
As my team of ecologists was proceeding on a tour of forests, she requested us to take the simian along and release him in a forest that had a troupe of his own species. On locating such a spot, we tried to release the animal but he refused to go, tightly clinging on to a member of the team. It seemed extremely cruel to leave him in a totally strange environment where the other monkeys might not accept him. Forcibly pushed out, he sat on the bonnet of our Land Rover, begging us not to desert him.
A tea stall owner in the vicinity came to the rescue. We requested him to either keep the animal as a pet or to release him in the forest after some days when he got used to the new environment. However, I strongly suspect that such abandoned primates eventually find their way back to centers of urbanization.
Thoughtless actions by man against nature can play havoc. Snatching a baby animal from his mother is a heinous crime, as is cutting down of forest trees, causing the bats that live in them to move closer to human dwellings. The deadly virus carried by the flying mammals then knocks at the door of human settlements.
Dr V. M. MEHER-HOMJI