Chittoor, October 18 : Villagers of Peddamarrimanu in Madanapalle mandal poisoned and killed about 45 monkeys on Saturday.
When elders of the village admonished them that killing monkeys on Dasara was unholy, the villagers were overcome with guilt and gave a decent burial to the monkeys and even built a grave for them.
The farmers of Peddamarrimanu had been having problems with the monkey for damaging their crops in the past few years.
When all efforts to contain the menace failed,the farmers decided to do away with the monkey menace once and for all. They baited them with poisoned groundnuts.
Some 45 monkeys died after eating the poisoned nuts. Some, that threw up survived. Some of these were young ones, which were unaware that their mothers had succumbed to poison, were seen trying to rouse them in vain.
When the elders of the village admonished the farmers, the villagers hurriedly garlanded the carcasses and buried them at one place and put a marker there.
The forest and police officials who came to know of the incident have registered a case against the villagers.
–Agencies