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[Josh Greenman <josh.greenman AT gmail.com>]

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/monkeys-deployed-to-guard-indian-games/?hp

September 29, 2010, 2:46 PM

Monkeys Deployed to Guard Indian Games

By ROBERT MACKEY

To thwart attacks by militant humans or hungry animals, India has
deployed 100,000 security guards and 38 monkeys to secure venues in
New Delhi ahead of the start of the Commonwealth Games this weekend.

The human part of the force includes sniper units and soldiers manning
mobile surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guns in the Indian
capital, Reuters reports.

On Wednesday, India’s NDTV showed members of a crack squad of trained
Hanuman langurs — fierce, black-faced monkeys named for a Hindu deity
— who have already taken up positions around two stadiums in the city,
charged with defending athletes and spectators from attacks by
smaller, wild monkeys.

As Reuters reports, “Monkeys are a menace in some parts of the Indian
capital, especially east Delhi, and one such attack in 2007 led to the
death of the then deputy mayor S.S. Bajwa who fell from a terrace and
eventually succumbed to injuries.”

Despite the laid-back sound of their name, the grey langurs have a
reputation for ferocity and just one is considered enough to scare off
an entire pack of wild monkeys.