A Farmer in Siddipet patrols around his farm in Sloth Bear attire to check monkey menace

Siddipet: As we have heard so many different stories on how farmers across the State were coming up with innovative methods to check the monkey menace over the years. However, the effort of a farmer from Siddipet is going to stand out among all such stories heard in the past. To keep the monkeys away from him from his farm, a farmer from Nagasamudrala village in Koheda mandal has started patrolling his farm in a sloth bear attire. The frightened monkeys were running away from the place after sighting the sloth bear on the farm.

Meet the farmer Chinthapally Bhaskar Reddy, who owns 10 acres of land on the outskirts of Nagasamudrala. Reddy, who cultivated Maize in five acres and different vegetables in another five acres has been struggling as troops of monkeys were invading his farm during the daytime while wild boars were damaging the crops during the nights. 

He had tried out various initiatives like using stuffed tiger toys placed strategically and also solar fencing to check the simians.



‘But these monkeys get used to them and they become bold in a day or two. in fact, They get habituated to them”, Reddy told media.

Thats when he saw actors in famous drama troupe Surabhi performing in Hyderabad in a sloth bear attire. He approached them seeking an attire for himself and they made one for him for Rs 8,000. Now Reddy or his son or his farm workers don it and patrol the area to scare away the simians.

Since they can virtually move like a real sloth bear in the attire, Reddy said that the ploy was working better than their previous ways of checking the menace. Helper at his farm Mallesham goes around the farm in the attire twice a day. Since none in the past have come up with such an idea, many farmers from neighbouring villages were visiting Bhaskar Reddy farm to see how it is working. However, the farmers have collectively appealed to the State government to come up with a plant check the monkey menace permanently because simians were making farming more difficult than anything else.