Genius jugaad: Andhra Pradesh farmers use stuffed tigers to scare monkeys

The unique ingenuity of Indians is reflected by how we have 'jugaads' for almost all problems. Jugaads are hacks to get a grip of any situation in the best possible way with options available at hand.

The discussion over culling wild animals termed as 'vermin' has sharply divided people. While activists claim it as a heinous crime, farmers are distressed over their loss. But after all they say, necessity is the mother of Invention.

So, several villages in Andhra Pradesh's Godavari district, troubled by the monkey menace, have come up with a unique idea to scare away the apes - by using tigers.

If you are wondering how villagers could tame the wild beast to help them? It's because the wild cats are not real, but are stuffed soft toys! Yes, talk about jugaads.

The monkey menace in these villages escalated due to a sharp increase in their population. They often attacked passersby, stole valuables and even entered homes.

So, to deal with the troublemakers in a sustainable way, the villagers have started using these stuffed tiger, according to local paper Dinamani.

The villagers started this practice after several complaints to the authorities went unresolved. The authorities tried to control the situation, but they failed due to the enormous population. They found the exercise futile as they couldn't catch them all.

However, this is not the first time that such a jugaad has been thought up by Indians. In 2014, a similar plan was hatched by farmers to scare away wild elephants.

According to a BBC India report, the plan failed to keep elephants at bay, which were not frightened by the toys. The farmers, however, managed to save their coconuts from monkeys.