April 05, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1429

MITHI, April 4: People here have expressed serious concern over the apathy of authorities of the Wildlife Department and other protection organisations who did not take any action to save a rare langur which after crossing the Indian border arrived in Nagarparkar town of Tharparkar district a few days ago.

The langur has black face, white body and a long tail with a broken leg.

The langur has perched on a tall, thorny tree for the last four days, facing thirst and starvation because of fear of rowdy crowds.

This correspondent saw scores of children, youths and other people on Thursday, who had gathered under the tree in a house to catch a glimpse of the rare langur.

Talking to reporters, the owner of the house, Gullan Khan Khoso, said that the (presumably male) langur was much teased by the people, who broke his leg, hence after wandering for days, it had taken a shelter in the tree, inside the fence of his house.

As the life of stranded langur was in danger, Gullan Khoso and his sons were performing a duty as its watchmen.

“But for how long can we keep the monkey alive, that in fear, is reluctant to come down from the tree to eat food or drink water, offered by us,” Gullan questioned.

Local people told journalists that a female langur had reportedly also come there to ‘take him back’ however, she failed to tempt him, hence left him and went back alone.

Some notables of Nagarparkar said that they had informed the staff of the Wildlife Department in the town about the ordeal of the langur, however they paid no attention.

People have urged the Wildlife Department to save the life of the rare langur. They also called upon the government to declare the Karoonjhar mountain area a national park to ensure safety and protection to rare species of wildlife.