The gaolbird monkeys
In recent years, the state of Punjab in India has been experiencing some serious monkey business. Many of the tens of thousands of wild Rhesus monkeys living in Punjab were displaying hostile behaviour, posing a threat to humans. One monkey, in particular, was notorious for harassing residents in 2004 – it would snatch food, throw stones, and continue to pester people until they fed him. So the monkey was sent to Punjab’s “monkey gaol,” a prison for primates that was built sometime in the 1990s. Since harming or killing monkeys is considered sacrilegious in India, officials decided that this “gaol,” which was actually just a massive cage within an existing zoo, was the best solution for keeping the population under control. The monkey gaol is no more, however; in 2009, the city of Patiala replaced it with a more humane rescue and rehabilitation centre.
The spy pigeon
In 2015, a young boy in the village of Manwal, India, noticed a pigeon with some strange, man-made markings on its body. He brought it to the police station, where veterinarians decoded the stamped message. It was a brief message in Urdu, the official language of Pakistan, as well as a Pakistani phone number. As the bird had been found near the region of Jammu, a heavily disputed area that both India and the bordering Pakistan had laid claims to, law enforcement worried that the bird might have been an instrument of espionage. After X-rays on the bird revealed nothing unusual, however, they dropped the investigation, but police reports continued to list the pigeon as a “suspected spy.”
Next, learn about some amazing animals that actually helped change history.
Sign up here to get Reader’s Digest’s favourite stories sent to your inbox!
Source: RD.com
