Telangana farmer brings ‘Tiger’ to protect field from monkeys, dogs

Hyderabad: Farmers often rely on scarecrows and fences to keep wild animals away from their crops. But farmer Gaddam Chinna Reddy decided to take things up a notch – he placed a giant ‘tiger’ in his field to scare away monkeys.

Reddy, from Choulamaddi village in Jagtial district, was tired of monkeys and dogs ruining his crops. The menace was not restricted to his fields but was prevalent in the market yard in Mettapalli, where he kept his fresh harvest.

He decided to try out the stuffed-tiger idea, and lo and behold! No monkeys and no dogs. The life-sized replica, seated amid the crops, looks real enough to make anyone think it is a real wild cat. He says the trick is working.

In a similar incident in 2022, a farmer of Siddipet district placed a ‘sloth bear’ to protect his maize and vegetable crops from monkeys.

The idea stemmed after the farmer was unable to find scarecrows and mannequins. He then approached a costume supply vendor and wanted him to stitch a costume of a sloth bear. The ‘bear’ cost him Rs 10,000, but in the long run, it only heaped profits, as the trick worked.