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[Josh Greenman <joshg1973 AT yahoo.com>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/international/europe/28monkey.html

June 28, 2005

Where the British May Reign but the Monkeys Rule
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ 

GIBRALTAR - Legend has it that as long as the Barbary apes roam the rock of 
Gibraltar,
the territory will remain safely under British rule.

The British have embraced this particular piece of folklore for centuries; 
not even
Churchill, in the throes of World War II, dared to disregard it. In 1944, 
with British
morale battered by the war and the Rock's monkey population dwindling, he 
took no
chances. He ordered a shipment of Barbary macaques from Morocco, a short hop 
across the
strait.

Little did Churchill envision how big the monkey population would grow, nor 
the
shenanigans that would come along with it.

There are now nearly 230 tailless Barbary monkeys on Gibraltar, and they do 
not merely
live on the Rock so much as dominate it. As the last free-ranging monkeys 
left in Europe,
the macaques happily milk that privilege, oblivious to the consternation they 
provoke
among the Rock's other set of primates, their human neighbors.

The monkeys do have a dedicated home, an ape den, at the reservoir up on the 
limestone
rock that constitutes the bulk of tiny Gibraltar. But they are free to stray, 
and they do
so, mostly in a quest for Kit-Kat bars, shady spaces, fruit trees, swimming 
pools and
human toys. They have a special affinity for the purses, shiny cameras and 
plastic
shopping bags that people tote around. 

And they have grown so used to the kindness of tourists and tour guides that 
little will
frighten them away, not even the sharp flick of a broom or the shrill screams 
of
children.

It is not uncommon to stroll past the popular Caleta Hotel on Catalan Bay 
here and see a
pack of large monkeys, with babies in tow, shinnying up drain pipes, sunning 
themselves
on balconies, peering into open windows and waiting expectantly for a tourist 
to toss
them a handful of potato chips, which the British call crisps.

While tourists find the monkeys amusing (at least until a camera gets 
snatched), the
hotel management most certainly does not. A sign posted at the entrance warns 
visitors to
close their windows when they leave their rooms and resist the urge to feed 
the monkeys.

The monkeys - despite being called apes, they are really monkeys - have grown 
so adept at
the game that they can easily tell the difference between a maid and a 
tourist (the maid
wears a uniform and cleans the windows).

"People think they are cute, and they hand them crisps and biscuits, so the 
monkeys climb
up and take the food," said Eric Shaw, who works for the nonprofit Gibraltar
Ornithological and Natural History Society and is in charge of the monkeys. 
"I mean, if
you want to buy me a free drink, I'll take it. It's not that they are so 
clever. It's
that we are thick."

Like the adorable pint-sized pickpockets that abound in some European cities, 
often with
the blessing of their parents, the monkeys do their utmost to charm and 
distract before
making off with the loot. They have learned to preen in front of cameras and 
mimic
snapping a picture; they jump on the heads of tourists for a laugh; they 
perch on the
side mirrors of touring taxis and wait for their treats; they have even 
figured out how
to unwrap candy bars.

One of their favorite tricks is swiping ice cream cones from children, 
leaving behind a
trail of crumbs and tears. (Not surprisingly, the monkeys now suffer from 
tooth decay.).

Nobody is supposed to feed or touch the monkeys, which carries a fine of 
nearly $1,000.
The last time someone was punished for the offense, though, was 1918.

They are Gibraltar's biggest tourist attraction, but the 30,000 residents 
here are
growing increasingly impatient with the monkeys' hooligan antics. Outside her 
apartment
building a few blocks from the Gibraltar hospital, Genevieve Almeida, 33, 
ticked off a
list of outrages. The residents have complained repeatedly to the government, 
she said,
and nothing has been done. Some garbage cans still have no lids, and the 
area's wire
fences are badly in need of repair.

When the monkeys are around, she and her neighbors are forced to leave their 
groceries in
their cars, because the sight of a plastic shopping bag would almost 
certainly touch off
a stampede. Windows stay shut and children indoors or, at least, under strict 
orders not
to carry food.

Cars in the neighborhood are dented and scratched because of the monkeys. 
They act as if
it is the height of hilarity to snatch clothes off the line and scram. They 
also steal
bread and fruit from kitchen counters and delight in disrupting a social 
gathering or
two. "In the middle of a pool party, they will come in and jump in the pool 
and ruin the
party," Ms. Almeida said.

Once, a monkey was found sleeping comfortably in a man's bed.

While usually harmless, the monkeys, which weigh about 35 pounds, can turn 
vicious,
especially if their babies are threatened. A little girl was recently bitten 
by one, and
the residents photographed the wound as proof, Ms. Almeida said. "They are 
part of the
neighborhood now," she said of the monkeys.

Peter Caruana, the chief minister of Gibraltar, said the government was 
trying to deal
with monkeys that run amok. But the underlying problem is that there are too 
many
monkeys, and people don't want to see them culled.

"Really we are now facing an almost certain need for a culling operation," 
Mr. Caruana
said. "There is no huge enforcement effort, by default rather than by design. 
The
dimension of the problem is huge."

But Mr. Shaw and a clutch of residents say the government cannot have it both 
ways: If
tourists and taxi drivers are permitted to feed them, despite the law, then 
people must
learn to live with monkey mischief.

Plus, monkeys that can roam, he said, will roam, and there is little the 
government can
do to hem them in.

"What part of 'free ranging' do they not understand?" Mr. Shaw asked, with a 
laugh.