"We are farmers. We are dependent on what we grow in our farms and gardens. But the monkeys have left nothing for us," lamented Manrupa Thapa, 59, of Beshishahar municipality - 5. "All the winter crops, vegetables and fruits have been destroyed by the monkeys," she added.
Thapa who was spotted guarding her vegetable farm very early on Monday morning stated that she has not slept well for several days just due to the monkey terror. If she does not guard the farm, whatever is left would be destroyed, too she claimed.
Narayan Dutta Baral of Taalfat village, who has farmed banana in six ropanis of land also complained that his fruits have been destroyed by monkeys.
He said that he's not been able to keep monkeys away no matter how much he tried. "Some bananas were just opening up their buds while some were other batches of bananas were maturing when the monkeys started attacking. They come in huge numbers and destroy everything," Baral reported adding that these days he keeps guarding his farm all the time.
Even though villagers try to fend the monkeys off, sometime the monkeys retaliate. Locals said that monkeys don't like being chased away by humans. And these monkeys either fight back while they are being chased or at times take revenge at a later time. Local of Bhakunde village Padam Bahadur, 68, stated that her next door neighbor was badly injured by monkeys recently. "She has been wounded very badly. There was blood all over," he narrated. The incidence is well known to all the locals. They said that the woman would have been killed by the monkey had not the locals around intervened and saved herself from the monkeys.
Another victim of monkey menace, Shambhulal Gotame of Sundarbazar, Hadetar stated that all his maize has been destroyed by monkeys. Gotame said that lack of youths in the village has added to their woes. He claims youngsters would have better dealt with the monkeys than them. "There are few youths in villages as many have left for foreign employment. Their wives also live in towns to educate kids. Those who work in the fields and guards things are generally aged people who cannot retaliate. The monkeys are troubling them a lot," he lamented.
Bishnu Bahadur Karki, a local of Suryapal village, claimed that lack of food for monkeys has been responsible for the present monkey terror. "As there's not much food for monkeys in the jungles to eat these days, they are attracted to people's settlement for feeding themselves. And when humans try to chase them away, in fit of hunger they attack the humans," he explained.
Monkeys have given hard days to the locals of Beshishahar, Sunderbazar, Madhyapal, Karaputar and Rainastar, among other villages of Lamgunj.
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