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  4. Mission monkey: Ahmedabad airport officials dress in bear costume to chase away langurs | WATCH

Mission monkey: Ahmedabad airport officials dress in bear costume to chase away langurs | WATCH

For past few days, Ahmedabad airport officials have one mission in their hand and it is to scare away the langurs wondering around the airport premises. the officials dress in bear costume to chase away langurs. The airport management is confident that this novel exercise has achieved the desired results by scaring the wits out of langurs and ensuring hassle-free take-off and touchdown of aeroplanes at the runway.

India TV News Desk Edited by: India TV News Desk Ahmedabad Updated on: February 07, 2020 10:17 IST
Mission at hand: Ahmedabad airport officials dress in bear costume to chase away langurs | WATCH

Mission at hand: Ahmedabad airport officials dress in bear costume to chase away langurs | WATCH

If you arrive at the Sardar Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad and see a bear roaming around confidently, do not be sacred because the beast is in fact an airport authority employee. This unique idea was taken up by Airport Authorities of India (AAI) claiming that there was a significant monkey menace and that it hindered several operational activities of the airport. Every day, for a certain period of time, airport staff dressed in ‘bear’ costume can be seen chasing langurs off the aerodrome.

Several animal, including the black-faced, long tailed langurs are seen wondering into the airport area as it is covered with a lot of greenery. 

According to reports, the idea to shoo away the langurs was carried out seeking advises from wildlife experts after "meticulous  planning which involved studying the behaviour patters of langurs."

"Passenger safety is priority for us. There are a good number of langurs roaming in the operational area of the airport. The Air Traffic Control officials and other staff try to spot them, but we thought of being more pro-active. We got to know that langurs are scared of bears. Since we have a dedicated staff at the airport to scare away birds and animals that can endanger the safety of planes and passengers, we thought of employing them to pose as bears and scare away the simians. The langurs are fast despite being quite heavy. They could pose danger to aircraft. We are expecting good results," Ahmedabad Mirror quoted Airport Director Manoj Gangal as saying. 

As per the data, in April 2019, two flights had to be diverted and ten more were forced to delay departure after about 15 monkeys entered into the operational area of the airport. In April 2017, ATC had to keep two flights grounded while several officials took the task of chasing away the monkeys.

There are several other instances where monkeys had wandered into the runways and created havoc because of which flights either had to be cancelled or delayed significantly.

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