Monkeyshines

Wild monkeys attacked a senior Indian government official, who then fell from a balcony at his home and died.

Yeah, I laughed long and hard too.

Many government buildings, temples and residential neighborhoods in New Delhi are overrun by Rhesus macaques, which scare passers-by and occasionally bite or snatch food from unsuspecting visitors.

Last year, the Delhi High Court reprimanded city authorities for failing to stop the animals from terrifying residents and asked them to find a permanent solution to the monkey menace. Over the years, city authorities have employed monkey catchers who use langurs — a larger and fiercer kind of monkey — to scare or catch the macaques, but the Rhesus issue persists.

Part of the problem is that devout Hindus believe monkeys are manifestations of the monkey god Hanuman and feed them bananas and peanuts — encouraging them to frequent public places. The other part of the problem is that India is a hellish third world nation that has no barrier or boundary between civilization and and episode of Animal Planet.