Indian monkey snatches Odisha baby: Outcry ensues after a monkey is alleged to have stolen a baby leading to the child’s death. Man vs nature in encroaching natural territory.
Authorities in India’s eastern state of Odisha (also known as Orissa) are on the hunt for a monkey after it allegedly stole and killed a newborn baby. The baby’s body was later found inside a well, the BBC reports.
The 16-day-old baby was sleeping next to his mother in the village of Talabasta when he was snatched by the monkey, according to the Times of India.
The baby’s mother said she saw the monkey steal the baby after entering her home just on 6am Saturday morning, but didn’t have time to try and wrest her child away from the primate before it escaped.
Officials combed nearby forests in a frantic search for the baby. The infant’s body was found by a relative in a well behind his home the following day.
A doctor told the BBC that there were no marks on the baby indicating serious injury, who appeared to have drowned.
Police are working with a local tribe in an attempt to catch the monkey. At least 2000 people have been involved in the search of the wanted monkey.
Indian monkey snatches Odisha baby: known to attack humans but first reported death.
The incident has since led to officials describing the baby’s death as a ‘very rare case’ while stressing activities involving monkeys often limited to damage property in the area.
Noted the dailymail: ‘Though revered in the majority Hindu nation, monkeys are a menace in many cities, trashing gardens and office and residential rooftops and often viciously attacking people for food.’
Activists say the invasion of the animal’s natural habitats by urban populations has caused the problem. Police said the death involving a human is the first of its kind in India.
Reported cbsnews: ‘Monkeys often enter and ransack homes in Orissa and other parts of India, usually looking for food. They aren’t shy creatures and are well known petty thieves. They have been known to attack humans, but a police official told the BBC that the Saturday incident was believed to be the first of its kind in India — though at least one other infant has died after being snatched by a monkey in Malaysia.’
Told PC Pradhan, ‘We have registered a case of unnatural death and are getting an autopsy done,’
‘There are bruises on the child’s left hand,’
‘The baby might have slipped from the clutches of the monkey, and died after falling into the well.’
‘While monkeys attacking humans or entering houses in search of food are fairly common, this is the first case in which one has run away with a baby,’ reiterated the local officer.
Angry villagers and family members staged protests outside the forestry department demanding measures to contain the growing monkey population in the region.
Local authorities hope to catch the offending primate ‘within a week.’
