The rare black-faced langurs of Keshabpur upazila in Jashore are now raiding surrounding areas in search of food. Leaving their home range, they are moving from village to village, turning up at houses for food and raiding farmers' fruit orchards.

The langurs live around the Baliadanga, hospital and office-para areas of Keshabpur, where the administration also provides food for them. But as their numbers have grown, food has run short and they have spread from Keshabpur into villages of Monirampur upazila.

Locals say that for about 12 years the langurs have made homes in bamboo groves and the tops of tall trees in Mujgunni and Durgapur in Monirampur and in Imannagar village on the upazila border, where they are also breeding.

For two or three years, troops of langurs have been entering villages in Monirampur municipality. At first people welcomed them and gave them various foods, but as the nuisance grew it became unbearable for many. Many still feed them with care, and a video of a teacher feeding a troop at his home recently spread on social media.

School teacher Biplob Kumar said langurs often come to his house and he feeds them. For the past few months they have been fed whenever they come, and drawn by this they visit two or three days a week. He said those responsible should pay more attention to protecting this rare species.

Meanwhile, when they find no food at houses, the langurs are doing great damage to villagers' crops. They raid orchards and vegetable gardens for pomelo, hog plum, guava, sapodilla, banana and other fruit, eating the fruit and damaging the gardens. Many people have been forced to guard their fields and orchards.

Abdul Karim, a malta grower in Mujgunni village of Monirampur, said he has malta and orange orchards on a few bighas and guards them against the langurs. Many others in the village do the same to protect their fruit and vegetables.

Locals say the food allocated for the langurs is too little and their numbers have increased through breeding, causing a food shortage that drives them into villages. The upazila's forest officer (additional charge), Abdul Khalek, told reporters that the food currently allocated for the langurs in the sanctuary is less than they need, and because they do not get enough to eat they are raiding villages.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.