In pictures: India's monkey business

Thursday 16th May 2013, New Delhi, India. A Rhesus Macaque monkey with bread stolen from inside a building in New Delhi, India on Thursday 16th May 2013. In New Delhi Rhesus Macaque monkeys are known to snatch food, rifle through files and tear up papers in government offices, and bite people on the street. The monkeys have terrorised Delhi and parts of Northern India for a long time. In 2007, the deputy Delhi mayor fell to his death from his first-floor balcony trying to fight off marauding monkeys. Monkey catchers with pet Langur monkeys have traditionally been used to scare away the Macaques, but now the wildlife ministry has ordered Langurs, a protected species of monkeys, to be sent back to the wild after the 31st May 2013 PHOTOGRAPH BY AND COPYRIGHT OF SIMON DE TREY-WHITE + 91 98103 99809 email: [e-mail]

Murari, a Delhi monkey catcher, walks on the roadside with his grey langur monkey called 'Mangal Singh'. His job is curb the shenanigans of the smaller rhesus monkey, but a new decree has ordered that the languars can no longer be used to police the stree???

The monkey problem has grown in the wake of the langur ban, and a deal is in the works between India’s Central Zoo Authority, the Wildlife of Authority of India and the California National Primate Research Center. They hope to address the macaque menace???

Monkeys are revered in Hinduism, and devout Hindus often feed them, encouraging them to live in urban areas. As they become accustomed to interacting with humans they can become more aggressive, stealing food rather than waiting for handouts.

Everyone it seems, has a story to tell about a monkey attack. For Manoj Kesari, a Delhi food vendor, a pack of monkeys made off with his groceries.

Mr Kesari said neighbourhoods depended on men like Mr Khan to keep the monkeys away, “so our children can go to school safely and our wives can walk around without fear of being attacked�.