About a month ago a langur that had strayed from its troop turned up in Goalanda, Rajbari. The animal was anxious in its new surroundings, and local people were just as curious to see a wild animal suddenly appear among them.

At first the langur kept its distance, moving among tree branches, tin roofs and the roofs of buildings, and many people chased it away. But over the past few days it has grown quite friendly with the locals. It now mixes with people without hesitation and roams across the upazila.

Experts say the lone langur is trying to get along with people simply in order to survive.

Local people believe the langur came to the area by climbing onto the roof of a vehicle travelling from the south of the country to the Daulatdia ferry ghat. Several stray langurs have come to Goalanda before. Lacking safe habitat and food, they may board fruit trucks and end up in the area.

On Sunday afternoon the large langur was moving around the railway gate area of Goalanda Bazar. Hungry, it went into the shop of a fruit seller named Mojibor Rahman. The shopkeeper gave it a pomegranate, which it grabbed. It ate nothing apart from the fruit it was given and did no damage. It then went into a nearby eatery and sat on a bench just like a customer. The owner, Sohitun Nesa, did not chase it away but gave it some food. Seeing this, many others gave the langur mangoes, bananas, nuts and bread. After eating as much as it could, the animal quietly left.

Eyewitnesses including young men Muktar Mahmud, Touhid Hossain and Raju Ahmed said they had never before seen a langur mix with people so naturally, and that they were pleased to see people's kindness.

Goalanda upazila livestock officer Dr Md Nurul Islam Talukder said the langur may have come from the Sundarbans area on a banana truck. Having arrived here, it has been left without companions, so it is behaving normally with people in order to survive. It is not harming anyone, he said, and people love animals that are harmless, feeding and helping them.

He added that langurs and monkeys are highly intelligent and understand how to adapt themselves to a given environment.

The official urged everyone to treat all animals humanely.

Reported by Rubelur Rahman.

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