AGRA: More than 70 monkeys have been found dead in different parts of Kheraghar, about 50 km from Agra , in the past three days, with atopsy reports saying the animals were poisoned.

Authorities suspect that someone may have poisoned the animals to control the simian menace.

According to the police, the 31 monkeys that were found dead on Saturday had vomited a green-coloured substance. .

Fourteen monkey bodies were recovered from Sarendhi Bridge. On Thursday, 13 monkeys were found dead near Jhinjhin Pulia.

Local people expressed shock at the cruelty. “It was terrible to see the animals lying with their mouths open, the green substance flowing out. It was hard to tell whether the monkeys died here or elsewhere, and their carcasses brought here,” said Sonu, a cable operator in Kheraghar who informed police about the large number of dead monkeys.

A forest official said, “For so many monkeys to go down in such a short span of time, it must have been poison . They showed symptoms of that – excess salivation, seizures, respiratory distress.”

Sudhir Kumar, inspector at Saiyya police station, said, “For the first time, we have had something like this in this area. It is possible that the monkeys were killed somewhere else and the carcasses disposed of here. It is possible that given the monkey menace in Agra, someone had poisoned them. An FIR has been registered under sections of IPC dealing with cruelty to animals.”

In the last four years, the monkey population in Agra has gone up three times. Since 2012, the project cost for making the city of Taj free of monkeys has nearly doubled. Sources in the district forest office said nearly 25,000 monkeys now roam the city; in 2011, the simian population here was estimated at 9,000. In 2011, the cost of making Agra monkey-free was estimated at Rs 9 crore. Now, the sum has risen to Rs 15 crore.