Nepal woman spends her day feeding temple monkeys

SUMMARY

For the past four years, Saraswati Dangol has been bringing the bread every day to feed some 300 monkeys living near Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu. She buys some 10 kilograms of flour and spends hours cooking the roti, traveling to the forest temple and feeding them daily. As soon as they see her with her white sack, they gather around her, some patiently waiting for their turn while others less patiently snatching the bread from her hands.

By APJul 25, 2019 3:05:55 PM IST (Published)

Saraswati Dangol prepares roti to feed monkeys near Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

For the past four years, Dangol has been bringing the bread every day to feed some 300 monkeys. She buys some 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of flour and spends hours cooking the roti, travelling to the forest temple and feeding them daily. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Some 300 monkeys eagerly await their pieces of roti or flatbread every day. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

A monkey pulls on the clothes of Saraswati Dangol as she arrives to feed monkeys in the forest near Pashupatinath temple. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

As soon as the monkey's see her with her white sack, they gather around her, some patiently waiting for their turn while others less patiently snatching the bread from her hands. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Many of Dangol's regulars are elderly or are mother or baby monkeys who are unable to fight for their share of food in the wild. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

"It used to be that the monkeys were able to feed on the fruits from the trees but now the forests are thin and hardly any fruits. They are going hungry and some of them even go to nearby houses to steal food," she said, adding that the monkeys are injured by people whose homes they try to enter. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Monkeys eat rotis distributed by Saraswati Dangol in the forest near Pashupatinath temple. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)