Lucknow's Monkeys

In India monkeys are sacred and punishment is frowned on. This does not promote discipline among monkeys. Bands of them often meet trains at stations, looting food and other articles of interest to monkeys. Lucknow University recently complained that in the chemistry laboratory a girl student had been bitten by a monkey. Wrote a Lucknow citizen to city authorities: "Apart from the damage monkeys cause to my garden, one attacked a small child of one of my servants and tore from its nose the nose ring." Said Dr. E. A. Douglas of Lucknow's Lady Kinnaird Hospital: "For four days in succession our hospital has been plunged in darkness and the cause of this is attributed to interference of monkeys with electric fuses. The seriousness of the situation will be appreciated when I tell you that not only is the operating theater in darkness, with the sterilizing apparatus out of use, but the labor ward is left without any light." Lucknow's Differin Hospital reported two nurses and one patient bitten by monkeys. A workman on the roof of a Lucknow locomotive workshop nearly fell off while wrestling with a monkey.

Last week the city of Lucknow engaged a contractor to catch Lucknow's monkeys, alive and unharmed, at the rate of one rupee, four annas (39¢) per monkey. The city proposed to deport its monkey population to distant forests by special train. Total estimated cost: 10,000 rupees* ($3,037).

* Another Indian city once removed monkeys by carts to a food dump miles away. When the monkeys had feasted at the dump, they raced away and caught the carts back to town.

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