尼泊尔农村社区正面临日益严峻的野生猴群破坏农作物危机。[1]位于加德满都东北约86公里的Dolakha地区Dharamghar村是受灾最严重的地区之一，该村人口从2017年的近800人下降至约150人，210户家庭中仅约一半仍有人居住。[1]农民们采取了多种防御措施应对猴群袭击，包括使用弹弓、石头、激光灯、狗以及自制爆炸装置等手段。[1]
这一问题在过去十年内明显恶化，主要源于两方面因素。[1]政府在毛派叛乱期间没收了村民长期用于保护农作物和牲畜的枪支，约十年前开始加剧了猴群问题。[1]与此同时，大量农村人口流向城市和海外工作，导致劳动力严重短缺，使得防御工作更加困难，部分农田因反复袭击而被迫放弃耕种。[1]
猴群袭击甚至对农民的人身安全构成了威胁。[1]Krishna Bahadur Khadka去年遭猴群袭击，被击倒并咬伤后卧床近四个月，至今未完全康复。[1]为应对危机，一个东部农村自治市曾关闭学校和政府办公室三天，组织数百名居民驱赶猴群进入周围森林，但驱赶仅数天后猴群便返回。[1]
Farmers in rural Nepal are facing an escalating crisis as wild monkeys increasingly raid their crops, forcing communities to resort to slingshots, stones, laser lights, dogs, and homemade explosives in desperate defense efforts [1]. The problem has intensified over the past decade, partly due to government confiscation of firearms that villagers had long used to protect their agricultural fields and livestock during a period of civil conflict [1]. The situation has been further exacerbated by mass rural-to-urban and overseas migration, leaving villages severely short of labor needed to guard against persistent raids [1].
In Dharmghar village in the Dolakha district, approximately 86 kilometers northeast of Kathmandu, the impact of depopulation is stark [1]. The settlement's population has plummeted from nearly 800 residents in 2017 to about 150, with only roughly half of the village's 210 households still occupied [1]. Repeated monkey attacks have forced some farmers to abandon their fields entirely [1]. One resident, Krishna Bahadur Khadka, was attacked by monkeys last year and sustained injuries severe enough to confine him to bed for nearly four months, from which he has not fully recovered [1].
Local authorities have attempted large-scale intervention with mixed results [1]. An eastern rural municipality closed schools and government offices for three days to organize hundreds of residents in an effort to drive monkeys into surrounding forests, but the animals returned within days [1].