Coexistence

Throughout Fuzz, Roach thematically inspects human-wildlife coexistence. Toward the outset of the book, in “The Monkey Fix”, the author observes monkeys strolling through the halls of the Wildlife Institute of India. At the institute’s office, “because [the] corridors have no walls, rhesus monkeys from the neighboring forest can occasionally be seen walking along behind or beside the humans. Neither species pays the other much mind, as if the monkeys, too, have meetings to get to and photocopies to make” (95). While the local media decries the growing monkey population in urban cities like Delhi, the visual of humans and monkeys strolling side by side suggests that such antimonkey fervor is hyperbolic. If local citizens were to mitigate open refuse in the streets and cease offering food to monkeys, the community in Delhi may not be at odds with the monkey population. Cohabitation could be a viable future if...