Mysterious disease leaves 60 monkeys dead in six months at sacred grove in Kerala
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Saritha S Balan
Tuesday, January 02, 2018 - 15:15
Nearly 60 monkeys whose habitat is a sacred grove with 27 acres of sprawling land at Vallikkatkavu in Kozhikode district, have mysteriously died in the past six months due to a disease, which is yet to be identified by veterinarians.
The face and body of the monkeys would first begin to decay, as if they were burnt, as a symptom of the disease and the death would happen in a month. The sacred grove, which is centuries old, has been a habitat for many species and as many as 100 monkeys also used to live there.
?But in the past six months as many as 60 monkeys have died. Now, there are less than 40 monkeys in the sacred grove. It was six months ago that the disease first began to appear and we have been attempting to bring this to the notice of the Forest Department. But it was only recently that the department took up the issue after the intervention of MK Raghavan (MP) and after a few media reports. A week ago, we were able to catch a monkey affected with the disease. The Forest Department took the monkey from here to study about the disease,? BJP Kozhikode district secretary CP Satheesh told TNM.
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Saritha S Balan
Tuesday, January 02, 2018 - 15:15
Nearly 60 monkeys whose habitat is a sacred grove with 27 acres of sprawling land at Vallikkatkavu in Kozhikode district, have mysteriously died in the past six months due to a disease, which is yet to be identified by veterinarians.
The face and body of the monkeys would first begin to decay, as if they were burnt, as a symptom of the disease and the death would happen in a month. The sacred grove, which is centuries old, has been a habitat for many species and as many as 100 monkeys also used to live there.
?But in the past six months as many as 60 monkeys have died. Now, there are less than 40 monkeys in the sacred grove. It was six months ago that the disease first began to appear and we have been attempting to bring this to the notice of the Forest Department. But it was only recently that the department took up the issue after the intervention of MK Raghavan (MP) and after a few media reports. A week ago, we were able to catch a monkey affected with the disease. The Forest Department took the monkey from here to study about the disease,? BJP Kozhikode district secretary CP Satheesh told TNM.
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