More than 100 monkeys die after inhaling pesticides in food, secretly buried | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: More than 100 monkeys died after reportedly inhaling a pesticide sprayed into a monkey Food Society of India (FCI) warehouse and were then secretly buried in a pit by warehouse staff to cover up the incident.
The tragic discovery came to light when the buried carcasses were exhumed by a team of veterinarians for post-mortem on Friday.
Circle Officer (CO) Yogendra Krishna Narayan said police were first informed about the deaths on Wednesday and have since registered a case against FCI employees while launching a massive investigation.
The pesticide, identified as aluminum phosphidewas sprayed on wheat bags in the FCI godown on November 7 to protect the grain from insects and rodents.
According to police, that night a pack of monkeys entered the warehouse through a broken window, accidentally inhaling the poisonous gas.
When workers reopened the warehouse on November 9, several monkeys lay dead. Instead of reporting the deaths to higher authorities, the workers are said to have chosen to bury the bodies in a nearby pit in an attempt to cover up the incident.
The incident came to light after members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad raised concerns after learning about the mass funeral.
It is not the first time such an incident has been reported. Last year, carcasses of nearly 100 monkeys were discovered on the outskirts of a village in Telangana’s Siddipet district. Officials suspected the monkeys had been poisoned elsewhere and their bodies later dumped in the area.