Life-and-death situations are an everyday event here

The lion-tailed macaques are feared the most by the 30 keepers at the city zoo.

CLOSE ENCOUNTER: An animal keeper feeds the tigerRahul at the Thiruvananthapuram zoo. Photo: S. Mahinsha

Kannan’s enclosure has been reinforced with three additional locks. But he still peers through the bars threateningly, while his deft fingers feel the contours of the locks and bolts sealing him in his cage. He then resorts to incessantly tapping the sides of the cage, certain something is bound to give way and let him out to sweet freedom.

A crafty bunch

Kannan belongs to a group of species that is most feared by the 30 keepers at the Thiruvananthapuram zoo — the lion-tailed macaque.

“Everyone is curious about who tends to the lions or the tigers because they are assumed to be the gutsy ones. But the cats are not nearly as crafty as these monkeys,” says Krishnadas, a supervisor here who has been engaged with zoo-keeping activities for over 21 years. He has wide experience dealing with animals, in both the Thiruvananthapuram and the Thrissur zoos, but his response to what the most temperamental creature is comes in a heartbeat.

He recalls a recent episode when Sudheeran, the keeper in charge of looking after the monkeys, was badly injured while feeding the macaques. The feistiest of the monkeys, Kannan, was trying to sneak past Sudheeran and out the enclosure door when the keeper lunged at him to prevent his escape. The retaliation left Sudheeran with severe bruises. He still has difficulty moving his fingers, though the incident occurred over a month ago.

There was another ugly encounter involving the lion-tailed macaques in February this year when keeper Radhakrishnan was left with bruises and scratches.

Even herbivores such as the massive Indian gaur can be very temperamental. One of them nearly trampled a keeper last month.

Zoo-keeping is a profession where things can go terribly wrong, all too fast. The keepers must exercise extreme caution and be alert throughout, for one slip-up can have terrible consequences.

Some have become experts at dealing with certain animals — for instance, Harshad who is the resident Steve Irwin of the zoo, considering how well he handles the reptiles.

He is the only one who has been in close proximity with the much-hyped anacondas, never once deterred by the appearance of seven large snakes or the fact that one of them reared at him once when he was trying to separate the snakes from coiling together too tightly using a rod.