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India train company turns to monkey business

Fierce-looking primate employed to keep wayward monkeys off subways

MSNBC News Services

Updated: 10:02 a.m. ET Aug 2, 2006

NEW DELHI, India - They say it takes a thief to catch a thief, but
India's Delhi Metro has hired a monkey to frighten off other monkeys
from boarding trains and upsetting passengers.

In an effort to keep monkeys out of the New Delhi subways, authorities
have called in one of the few animals known to scare the creatures — a
fierce-looking primate called the langur, the Hindustan Times
newspaper reported Wednesday.

The decision to hire a langurwallah — a man who trains and controls
the langurs — came after a monkey got into a metro car June 9, the
newspaper reported.

In that incident, a monkey boarded a train at the underground Chawri
Bazaar station and reportedly scared passengers by scowling at them
for three stops. It then disembarked at Civil Lines station.

Passengers had to be moved to another car while staff chased the
dexterous creature, causing delays.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation says it hopes the new hire will avert
a repeat of that episode.

"It started working about a month ago and since then we've not had a
single incident," said Anuj Dayal, a metro spokesman.

The langur handler is being paid a retainer of India rupees 6,900
($160) a month, and "he will be called whenever there is a monkey
problem," Dayal was quoted as saying.

"There are too many monkeys," Dayal was quoted as saying.

Langur monkeys are similarly employed around the grounds of parliament
and some government buildings in New Delhi.
(c) 2006 MSNBC Interactive