Bengaluru, July 2: Close on the heels of five tigers, including a mother and her four cubs, were poisoned in the Malai Mahadeshwara Hills wildlife reserve, the bodies of about 20 bonnet monkeys have been found dumped in the buffer zone of neighbouring Bandipur Tiger Reserve.
While 18 of the 20 monkeys were found dead, two of them were still breathing and the forest officials have shifted them to Gundlupet and are treated at the local veterinary hospital.
The forest officials suspect that the monkeys have been killed elsewhere and had been dumped in the buffer zone between Kandegala and Kodasoge villages. As proof, the forest officials have found a gunny bag sack, which has been left behind by the assailants.
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The incident came to light on Wednesday morning around 6 am, when the forest officials received a telephone call from a villager, stating that there was a mass killing of monkeys near Kandegala road. When the forest officials visited the spot, they found only two of the 20 monkeys were breathing with difficulty. The two monkeys were immediately shifted to Gundlupet.
Since it was obvious that someone had brought these monkey bodies from elsewhere and dumped them here, the forest officials tried to get some details through the CCTV footage from nearby farms.
However, no definite clues were available. Dog squads from nearby Melukamanahalli were summoned and efforts are being made to track down the culprits.
