Highlights:
♦ Rehabilitation Centre is the second such facility for primates in the country. Another such facility in the country is located in Himachal Pradesh State.
♦ Previously, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change had declared monkeys (Rhesus Macaque) as “pests” in Himachal Pradesh.
♦ It allows local authorities to eliminate this animal for one year in certain designated non-forest areas of Shimla.
♦ The state government reported that because the species was overpopulated outside the forest, it caused damage to life and property, including large-scale damage to agriculture.
♦ Macaques are a protected species in Schedule II of the Wild Animals (Protection) Act of 1972. The law allows it to be declared as a “pest” within a certain period of time to prevent threats to human life or property, thereby hunting it.
♦ According to Article 62 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, states can send a list of wild animals to the center and require the center to declare selective slaughter of these animals.
♦ Wildlife laws divide species into “schedules” from I to V. In theory, the members of Schedule I are the best protected, and those who hunt them will be severely punished.
♦ Wild boar, oryx and rhesus monkeys are members of Schedule II and III. It is also protected but can be hunted under certain conditions.
