CALCUTTA, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of hungry monkeys have invaded a sprawling tea garden in eastern India, chasing petrified workers and damaging machinery, the estate manger said on Tuesday.
More than 200 monkeys from a nearby forest have made the estate in the tea-rich Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal state their new home, forcing 1,700 workforce to lock doors and move in groups while plucking tea leaves.
"It's really worrying. Workers are terrified as monkeys are even going into the creche of the estate and snatching food from their children," Shantilal S. Pandya, the garden's general manager, told Reuters by phone.
The monkeys have injured one person and hit output at the garden, which produces around 1.1 million kg of tea a year.
Pandya said the garden's management was hesitant to use force to evict the monkeys as many workers revere the Hindu monkey-god, Hanuman.
"We cannot hurt the monkeys because of the sentiments of the labor force. We have asked forest officials and local environmentalists to help solve this monkey crisis."
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Comments (2)
Monkeys? Sounds like a job ... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Tiger | July 24, 2003 12:48 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Monkeys? Sounds like a job for Frank.
1. Posted by Tiger | July 24, 2003 12:48 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 24, 2003 00:48
2. Posted by Bubba | July 24, 2003 5:34 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
How fast did the monkeys have to run to catch "petrified" workers?
2. Posted by Bubba | July 24, 2003 5:34 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 24, 2003 17:34