From rxpgnews.com
Court refuses nod for monkeys' sterilization
By IANS,
Feb 8, 2007 - 9:30:16 PM
New Delhi, Feb 8 - Delhi High Court Thursday refused permission to the city government to sterilize monkeys before relocating them to a 100-acre natural habitat in the southern part of the national capital.
Coming to the rescue of the monkeys, caught on the court's order aimed at ridding the capital of simian menace, a division bench of Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice H.R. Malhotra observed, 'By sterilising all the monkeys, you would extinguish the whole race. Is it fair to the animal race?'
'Moreover many would die of infection in the wild after the surgery,' the bench pointed out, while hearing a public suit on rehabilitation of a large number of Rhesus monkeys.
The government had submitted that it had developed a natural habitat in Aravali hill tracts near Bhatti Mines where the monkeys would be provided with food and water.
Citing environmentalists' opinion, the government said once food and water were provided to them, the monkeys would not tread beyond the park.
Adjourning the matter to Feb 13, the court asked the government, municipal authorities and Delhi Wildlife Department to state the method of catching so many monkeys without inflicting injury on them.
The government counsel said it might use tranquilisers to catch the monkeys from various localities. He also sought the court's direction for an order to make feeding monkeys in public places a punishable offence.
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