Pakistan authorities hand over 'Indian' monkey to street performer

A monkey, which apparently crossed into Pakistan from India last week, was handed over to a local street performer after authorities at a local zoo in Pakistan’s Punjab province refused to take the primate into the facility citing space crunch and lack of veterinarians, officials said on Monday.

Rescue teams captured the monkey from a 200 feet-high cellular tower after hours-long operation.

”Rescue 1122 of Emergency Punjab Services on Friday caught a monkey, which crossed into Pakistan from India bordering Bahawalnagar city (some 260 kms from Lahore),” Rescue 1122 official Muhammad Farooq told PTI on Monday.

Farooq said his department approached the Bahawalnagar Wildlife Department to house the monkey in the zoo, but authorities refused citing space crunch.

”The department said it has no extra cage in the zoo to put the monkey. Therefore it should be handed over to a madaari (local street performer) for its upkeep,” he said.

District Wildlife Officer, Bahawalnagar, Munawar Hassain Najmi, told the Dawn newspaper that apart from space crunch at the local zoo, the Bahawalnagar Wildlife Department does not even have a single vet to treat the monkeys.

”The majority of the animals that crossed from India into Pakistan, especially langurs and monkeys, die from injuries, while the Bahawalnagar Wildlife Department does not even have a single vet to treat them,” Najmi added.