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  • From: "alex stevenson" <alexs19 AT hotmail.com>
  • To: monkeywire AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Rhesus monkeys can't get a break.
  • Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2001 08:11:43


Daily Yomiuri
Friday, June 15th 2001
JAPAN


Chiba govt to eliminate foreign rhesus monkeys

Yomiuri Shimbun

CHIBA – Rhesus monkeys, originating from continental Asia, have recently spread to the southern tip of Boso Peninsula, worrying local government officials who have received complaints from farmers about crop damage.
The Chiba prefectural government recently decided to eliminate the rhesus monkey population, numbering about 100. The decision follows moves by Wakayama Prefecture to kill about 200 Taiwan monkeys that have preyed upon local produce.
According to Chiba prefectural officials, about 100 rhesus monkeys are believed to inhabit and area between the city of Tateyama and Shirahamamachi, a coastal town on the peninsula.
The monkeys, often used in medical research, are not native to Japan.
"We haven't discovered how they've come to inhabit this region," an official said.
The prefecture has spent about ¥10 million annually surveying and conducting research into the monkeys since 1994, equipping them with electronic monitoring devices and checking their rate of pregnancy during their mating season.
According to the officials, Shirahamamachi lost about ¥2.3 million in agricultural production last fiscal year due to the monkeys, who devoured Japanese radish, peas, Chinese celery cabbage and mikan among other farm produce.
Specialists said the rhesus monkeys may already be mating with Japanese macaque, which inhabit hills north of the monkeys' territory.
So far, five out of the known band of 100 rhesus monkeys have been discovered to possess traits similar to those of the Japanese macaques.
"These include having relatively short tails, which suggest mating between the long-tailed rhesus monkeys and the macaques, which have very small tails, might have taken place," the official said.
"Young Japanese male macaques are known to wander about, apart from their band, to seek mates. Such behavior may have caused them to travel distances to mate with the rhesus monkeys," he said.
The official said monkey specialists will be called in to catch the rhesus monkeys, after which they will be put to death by the use of toxins.
"Guns will not be used, as they may disperse the band and cause them to mate more with the macaques," the official said.
The ecological destruction resulting from the introduction of foreign wildlife has caused problems in many municipalities in recent years, including the cases of North American black bass put into suburban lakes and rivers by anglers, and the raccoons, formerly kept as pets, now flourishing in the woods of Hokkaido.
An Environment Ministry official said the government is now going through the process of drafting up national guidelines on foreign wildlife species.
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  • Rhesus monkeys can't get a break., alex stevenson, 06/16/2001

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