Border patrol guards in India were caught on camera running around in bear costumes in order to scare off aggressive monkeys that are invading the homes.
“2 Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel at ITBP Camp-Mirthi, Uttarakhand dressed in ‘bear’ costume to scare away monkeys on the premises,” Asian News International wrote on Twitter where they shared the video.
As seen in the footage, the guards dressed in bear costumes successfully repelled the monkeys and prevented them from entering the nearby village.
While some people found the attempt at getting rid of macaques amusing, similar reports suggest that the monkeys in India are getting increasingly aggressive.
In addition, experts have suggested that scaring monkeys off while dressed in a costume can be more effective because they’ve already grown used to human appearances.
#WATCH: 2 Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel at ITBP Camp-Mirthi, Uttarakhand dressed in 'bear' costume to scare away monkeys on the premises. (Source-ITBP) pic.twitter.com/YeZXaXAgze
— ANI (@ANI) March 9, 2020
Just earlier this year, Hindustan Times reported that a similar scaring ‘technique’ involving costumes was used by residents in Sikandarpur, Uttar Pradesh, to get rid of macaques.
“We have now started taking turns in wearing the bear costume and roaming around the village. It was a relative who had told me about the idea and it is actually working,” Ram Lalit Verma, the head of the village, explained.
Speaking of the monkeys’ increasing aggressiveness, primatologist Iqbal Malik suggested that human interference and the destruction of natural habitats pushed macaques to be fiercer in their search of food, meaning that they’re not getting scared of humans easily.
“Large-scale deforestation destroys their natural habitats, resulting in the fragmentation of groups and causing monkeys to move towards rural and urban areas in search of food,” she told Gizmodo.
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Replaced!