With more than 60,000 pigs, over 2,000 monkeys and several thousand street dogs making the town their home, the people of Anantapur seem to live amid a veritable bio-diversity park, sharing the town with the animals and putting up with their attacks.
Recently, two children and a man were attacked by a troop of monkeys making them run for their life as the simians snatched away the food they had just bought in the three town area of Anantapur.
The children of several government-run schools and hostels in the town also suffer from the monkey menace, which continues to increase by the year even as the municipal officials turn a blind eye to it.
Lack of food, water
“Monkeys have become such a problem that we have had to spend over Rs. 30,000 to fence our balcony. Several of my neighbours too have done the same after realising that any number of complaints to the municipal authorities hardly make a difference,” says Narayana Reddy, a resident of the Second Road in Anantapur.
When asked about the same, municipal officials tell The Hindu that the problem of monkeys persist as the animals, even after being shifted out of the town, are forced to come back to human habitations in search of food and water.
The monkey-catchers hired to remove the animals from the town can only leave them in the nearest forest area.
Leaders helpless
However, the lack of food and a hospitable eco-system there make the monkeys return to towns and villages, they say.
While the monkeys and dogs continue to scare the people of the town with their attacks, with many cases going unreported as the victims prefer to get themselves treated at private hospitals without lodging any complaints with the authorities concerned, the problem of pigs has left the tallest of politicians helpless in tackling the menace, even after promising stringent action.
Anantapur MP J.C. Diwakar Reddy, known for his diktats to public servants on issues pertaining to the betterment of civic facilities,had said several months ago that he would rid the town of the thousands of pigs or just shoot them down.
However, a combination of pressure from a few sections of society and the ineffectiveness of the municipal authorities has meant that the pigs are here to stay.
