Man in gorilla suit roams Narsapur streets to curb monkey menace

To tackle the rising monkey menace in Narsapur, former councillor Mohammad Naimuddin hired a sanitation worker to wear a gorilla costume and patrol the streets. The idea worked, prompting municipal officials to plan more such “gorilla” patrol teams.

Medak: A former councillor in Narsapur has found an unusual way to tackle the monkey menace in the town by purchasing a gorilla costume and engaging a sanitation worker to wear it and patrol the streets to scare the simians away.

Located close to a forest area, Narsapur town has been witnessing a steady rise in monkey attacks, as troops enter residential areas in search of food and water. They often target women, children and the elderly. At least two people have died in monkey attacks in recent months, while another woman suffered a serious fracture after falling from a building during an incident. Similar cases have also been reported regularly in Medak town.

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Former councillor Mohammad Naimuddin said repeated attempts to drive the monkeys away had failed. He said he came across a video on YouTube showing how residents in another place managed to deal with the problem by using a man dressed in a gorilla costume to scare off the monkeys.

Speaking to Telangana Today, he said he immediately ordered the outfit online, spending Rs 1,650. He then engaged a sanitation worker to wear the costume and move through the streets from Friday. The response was swift, as monkeys were seen running away on spotting the man in the gorilla suit. Naimuddin said the patrol would continue in Ward 6 and Ward 7 until the monkeys returned to the forest.

Meanwhile, since the monkeys were running away after seeing the ‘gorilla’, Narsapur Municipal Commissioner Banda Sriram Charan Reddy said there were plans to form a team of six men dressed in similar gorilla costumes to patrol the town.

Sriram Charan Reddy said plans were being made to have the team patrol the entire town in a phased manner to check the monkey menace and drive the monkeys back into the forests. However, he was unsure whether this would be a permanent solution, since there was a possibility of the monkeys getting used to the sight of the ‘gorilla’ soon.