Monkey troops attacking tourists in vacation hot spots

With deforestation and climate change reducing their natural food reserves, primates target human flesh for survival

PESHAWAR:

Tourist families enjoying their time nestled between the lush green peaks of the Galiyat region, look forward to spotting a rare wild mammal interesting enough to present a new spectacle for their children's travel diaries. Yet the vacation plans can go awry in no time when a seemingly innocent monkey frolicking around a child turns out to be the vicious ringleader of a human-blood thirsty monkey gang.

One such unfortunate family was that of Adil, a local from Peshawar visiting Nathia Gali, whose 9-year-old son was brutally attacked by a troop of monkeys in the garden of their resort. "Like other children, my son was fascinated to spot monkeys on vacation. However, after some time a whole herd of monkeys attacked my son, biting his arm and leg, which started bleeding profusely. After getting him bandaged at the Kalabagh clinic, we went back to Peshawar, where my son was given four doses of the anti-rabies vaccine for Rs2,500 each," shared Adil.

Apart from children like Sajid's son, even adults like Amina Arbab, another tourist from Peshawar, were not safe from the aggressive attacks of monkey troops. "Since the past 10 years, my family and I have been spending our summers here in Galiyat. I often used to feed the monkeys for fun. Recently, I went outside the rest house with some bananas in my hand and after spotting a monkey, I threw the fruit towards it. In no time, an entire troop of monkeys started surrounding me and all of a sudden, one of them jumped on my back and injured me with its claws. Although I managed to escape, the wounds I sustained required dressings for three weeks," recalled Amina.

According to Dr Wasif, a medical personnel at the Kala Bagh Health Centre, tourists from all over the country visited the Galiyat area for vacations. "Whenever a monkey bite incident involving a child occurs, the parents get very scared and worried. We give them first aid here, but if a case of bite and claw injury is suspected, we inform them about the vaccine, which must be administered immediately otherwise the victim can face health issues in the future," claimed Dr Wasif.

As per data obtained by the Express Tribune, incidents of monkey attacks have increased by almost 95 per cent during the past one and a half years in Nathia Gali, Donga Gali and other adjacent areas, where 19 cases were reported in 2023 and a total of 37 cases reported this year from April to August alone.

"Human interference has disturbed the natural habitat of the monkeys in the Galiyat and Margalla regions, where a lack of food has forced most of them to move closer to human populations. Since monkeys are prey for leopards and cheetahs, these trends have reduced the food available for their consumption hence the big cats are seen attacking humans in the hills of Abbottabad, Galiyat and Margalla. When the rich ecosystem is not maintained, both the prey and the predator are disturbed. If we do not control these challenges in time, this seemingly small problem will definitely prove to be a huge threat," forewarned Mian Shafiq, Chief Conservator at the Ministry of Climate Change.

Although no formal survey has been conducted by the Wildlife Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to identify the total number of monkeys in Galiyat, a rough estimate indicates that nearly 10,000 to 12,000 monkeys exist in forests with pine trees but in recent times have migrated to areas in close proximity of human settlements.