The police officers fed the monkeys who had presumably gone hungry for a few days
A troop of monkeys gathered around a police team leaping at the morsels of food tossed towards them in a video that has emerged from Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district.
The police officers from Maingalganj fed the monkeys who had presumably gone hungry for a few days because of the nationwide lockdown implemented since March 25 to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Visuals show a large number of monkeys squeaking in front of around three uniformed officers as they scatter food in front of them. The monkeys hop and jump to reach their meal of jaggery, puffed rice and bengal gram.
The lockdown, that was extended till May 3 on Tuesday, has affected animals as well.
Monkeys are often depended on food from people. Amid the lockdown, many people have been going hungry - the dearth of food for monkeys does not come as a surprise.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on March 24, announced a nationwide lockdown to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. The deadly disease has claimed 420 lives so far with over 12,700 cases across the country.
Uttar Pradesh has the seventh highest number of coronavirus cases in the country with 805 cases. 13 people have died in the state.
Globally, over 1,38,000 people have died due to the virus. Economies have been badly hit, many jobs have been lost and people have been staying home and maintaining social distancing to stop the spread.
The highly contagious virus originated in China's Wuhan in December last year and has spread exponentially around the world.