Taking Primates Back into the Wild

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Bangalore is second only to Delhi while we consider the urban wildlife density of Indian cities. Bordered by a thick forest canopy, it’s not just the outskirts of Bangalore that have a green shade to them. The city has many green patches running through it which is home to high biodiversity. From parakeets, squirrels and kites to owls, pangolins and deer, we would certainly get to know how diverse our neighbourhood is if we care enough to notice!

We often see troops of Indian Bonnet Macaque wandering the rooftops and climbing the treetops of the city. Unfortunately, some people consider them as a nuisance while it’s certain that they become a nuisance only when we interfere. Proper awareness would certainly enable us to live peacefully with other creatures like them. For instance, there are examples where urban residential communities have learned to peacefully coexist with Macaques. Feeding the straying macaques is not advisable according to the experts. However, it could be done systematically. In Delhi, certain residential associations maintain a fixed schedule in the morning and evening to feed them. According to their experience, the macaques have got used to the schedule. They come at that particular time, have food and leave without creating any ruckus! That’s the beauty of coexistence.

We have rescued over 1140 Bonnet Macaques of which more than 300 were juvenile macaques, which were either injured, orphaned or displaced. We have released most of them back into the wild unless they succumb to their injuries or when the injury renders them blind or handicapped which would, in turn, make them uncompetitive to survive in the wild. We take lifetime care of these Macaques at our campus. 

If you haven’t read it yet, you can read the story of Nanny & Elizabeth, two such lifetime care Macaques here. 

At first, rescued Macaques are examined by our veterinarian team, and diagnostic and therapeutic techniques are derived accordingly. Some injuries would require major surgeries that will be carried out in our well-equipped ICU. Those separated, orphaned or displaced from a social group are assisted with planned care and nutrition plans. Juvenile macaques are hand-raised and they have to be even taught the types of food to eat. They are kept in a socialising unit where they learn instincts by bonding with other Macaques, as we taper down the human connect.

We have a state-of-the-art rehabilitative habitat for the Bonnet Macaques. To read more about it, come back to this space later. 






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