Monkey attacks IWMB employee at Margalla Hills over not offering food

ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) employee got attacked by a monkey at trail 4 on Margalla Hills, ARY NEWS reported quoting board’s Chairman Rina S Khan on Monday.

Sharing the information on her Twitter account, IWMB Chairman Rina S Khan said that an IWMB staff got attacked by a monkey today on Trail 4 as he had no food to offer.

IWMB staff got attacked by monkey today on Trail 4 as he had no food to offer. Monkeys are now used to visitors feeding them and if they don’t they will attack! Monkey bites are dangerous. Plz STOP feeding monkeys on trails & road. Violators will be fined! ⁦@WildlifeBoard⁩ pic.twitter.com/upJAM04e0O

— Rina S Khan (@rinasaeed) February 15, 2021

“Monkeys are now used to visitors feeding them and if they don’t they will attack!” she said in her post while also sharing a photo of an injured staffer.

She said that monkey bites are dangerous and asked the public to stop feeding monkeys on trails and the road. The IWMB chairman warned that violators will be fined.

It is pertinent to mention here that besides monkeys, other wildlife creatures have also been spotted at the Margalla Hills previously, forcing the IWMB officials to issue a warning to the hikers.

On February 01, the Wildlife Department confirmed the presence of five leopards at Margalla Hills National Park of Islamabad.

Rina Saeed Khan, a chairperson wildlife management board, confirmed that the five leopards were spotted on January 31 on camera traps set up by IWMB.

The chairperson cautioned visitors to observe the warning signs of leopard territories and to stay on the marked trails and not to enter the park when it gets dark.

She has advised citizens to preferably hike in groups, refrain from cycling in the park and return half an hour before sunset and enter a full hour after dawn.