‘Only in India’: Man dresses up as bear to protect crops from monkey attacks
A trip of grazing monkeys or stray cattle can make months of labor spent harvesting crops unnecessary.
While farmers across the country use scarecrows and regularly watch over their crops, Telangana farmer Bhaskar Reddy went a step further and donned a sloth bear costume to protect his produce.
According to news agency ANI, Reddy adopted this unique method to combat the threat of wild boars and monkeys that continue to damage his crops in Telangana’s Siddipet even before they are cut down.
Telangan | Bhaskar Reddy, a farmer from Koheda in Siddipet, uses a sloth bear costume to prevent monkeys and wild boars from damaging the crop.
“I hired a person for Rs 500 a day to wear the suit and walk around the grounds to keep the animals away,” he said (30.03) pic.twitter.com/YVHyP4ZUGh
— ANI (@ANI) March 30, 2022
Reddy and his son take turns wearing the costume in the fields. However, Reddy told ANI that he is now paying someone to do the job for him. “I hired a person for Rs 500 a day to wear the costume and walk around the field to keep the animals away,” he said.
Reports say that Reddy acquired the special sloth bear outfit from a costume vendor in Hyderabad, who makes dresses for theater groups, and paid Rs. 10,000 for it. According to reports, he said that since the outfit is made of Rexine, it becomes stuffy and uncomfortable to wear in the summer heat, but it was effective in keeping animals away.
— Prshntkndpl (@Prshntkndpl) March 31, 2022
What if a real bear came?
— son_XLNC🇮🇳❤ (@_XLNC) March 31, 2022
500/day seems like too much but imagine wearing a black suit in midsummer with no shade. Try it in your garden and you will understand.
— Bitter truth (@phokatmahamad) March 31, 2022
Kya techniques brother!!! Hi 🙏
— Golok Biswas (@imgolok) March 31, 2022
— Drharix46 (@Harixph) March 31, 2022
😂🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/dYJod1pTCW
— PRATEEK🇮🇳🚩 (@Prateek_4599) March 31, 2022
500 per day = 15k per month. more than what an engineer today earns per day. https://t.co/bn7uJ7xIX2
— त्रिशिरहंता (@sahastrachakshu) March 31, 2022
The sloth bears administrator called it a masked attack on their species.
Sloth bears have also complained that the human wearing this costume walking around in the field violates the sacred and deeply held principle of sloth. https://t.co/2a06L9kC7A
— Aditya Upadhye आदित्य उपाध्ये (@Aditya_Upadhye7) March 31, 2022
Farmers all over India are coming up with innovative solutions to their problems. Last year, Sushil Agarwal from the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha built a solar powered quadricycle home to avoid high fuel prices.
