Delhi authorities are to deploy a contingent of langurs -- a
large type of monkey -- at Commonwealth Games venues to help chase
away smaller simians from the sporting extravaganza.
From Wednesday, 10 langurs will be put on duty outside Games
venues in the Indian capital, with the boxing and hockey stadiums
seen as particularly vulnerable to monkey misbehaviour, an official
said.
The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has a regular team of 28
langurs which are used to scare away their weaker brethren in VIP
areas of the city, but 10 more have been brought in from the
neighbouring state of Rajasthan.
Four of them will be posted outside the boxing complex with
their handlers, while another four will patrol the hockey complex.
Two have been kept in reserve to respond in the event of an
emergency.
"They are there for the monkey problem. They will be moving
outside the stadiums," Devender Prasad, an inspector from the
enforcement department of the NDMC, told AFP.
Wildlife has so far posed major headaches for the under-fire
organisers, with stray dogs found in venues and a snake captured at
the tennis complex.
After one of the strongest monsoon seasons in years, the capital
is also struggling with a major dengue fever outbreak, caused by
mosquitoes that breed in standing water.
Fish that eat mosquito larvae have been put in the pond in the
Games Village to protect athletes from dengue, a viral infection
transmitted to humans by the female Aedes mosquito.
Monkeys are a common sight in the verdant Indian capital, where
they routinely scamper through government offices, courts and even
police stations and hospitals.
In 2007, the deputy mayor of New Delhi fell to his death after
being attacked by a group as he read a newspaper on the terrace of
his home.
Hundreds of monkey bites are reported annually in the city,
partly as a result of devout Hindus feeding the animals during
ritual offerings to the monkey god Hanuman.
Langurs are an aggressive type of monkey with long tails and
dark faces. They are controlled on leashes by specialised handlers,
who release them once other monkeys come into sight.
The showpiece multi-sport Games, which open on Sunday, teetered
on the brink of collapse last Tuesday when some nations threatened
to pull out amid worries about security, a bridge falling down and
the state of the facilities.
Problems plaguing the event range from shabby accommodation to
security fears, as well as doubts about the quality and safety of
venues and infrastructure.
Many athletes said Tuesday that conditions inside the
much-criticised village were improving.
Indian organisers had forecast that the Games would be like the
2001 film "Monsoon Wedding," in which everything comes together at
the last minute.
