Monkey rescued from captivity inside Police station

Balasore, Oct 19 (UNI) After five long years of captivity in a cage inside police station, a seven-year-old monkey was finally let free into a nearby forest.

The monkey, popularly called as Ramu, was being kept in a cage inside the Remuna police station for the past five years after it was handed over to the police by the local villagers.

Ramu was recently in the news after media reports brought the matter to limelight and the government ordered an inquiry into the whole incident.

Officials of the Wildlife Division swung into action and freed the monkey from the cage inside the police station. They prepared a new cage for ''Ramu'' and transported it to the nearby Kuldiha reserve forest and then release it into the wild.

Nilagiri forest Ranger Laxmidhar Behera said a medical examination was conducted on if before it was taken to the Kuldiha forest. The monkey was found in perfect and good health, he said.

The monkey, he said, was kept under close observation for a week before being released into the wild as he was domesticated for nearly five years inside the police station.

Asked whether the officials of Remuna police station would be booked under the Wildlife Protection act for keeping the animal in a cage, the forest officials said as per Section 60 of Wildlife Act - 1972, no action could be initiated against government officers keeping the animal under proper care.

The monkey was brought to the police station by the villagers following a group clash in Haripur village after the monkey kept by a minority community member attacked a boy belonging to another community.

Remuna police station in charge Niranjan Dhir when contacted said the police had no option but to keep the monkey in the police station premises to avoid a possible communal conflict in the village.

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