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Stressed Singaporeans crack down on thieving monkeys
Wed 19 Dec 2007, 7:12 GMT
http://africa.reuters.com/odd/news/usnSP32791.html

By Gillian Murdoch

SINGAPORE, Feb 19 - With monitor lizards, snakes, and bats prowling
their parks, residents of tropical Singapore are no strangers to the
occasional animal ambush.

But it's not the iguanas or squirrels that have locals up in arms --
it's the monkeys.

Gangs of long-tailed macaque monkeys have been causing havoc in
housing estates bordering nature reserves; stealing food and brawling
on the streets.

"They roam the estate in groups of up to 20 &- rampaging the estate
and turning over dustbins," one irate local wrote to the national
paper in October.

"They enter the house, open cupboards, steal food and soil the premises".

Picnics are spoiled and snacks are snatched from bags while golfers
tee off. Even the British Club has armed staff with brooms to shoo
monkeys away from the gourmet buffet.

"It's a very weird situation," said Sharon Chan, the National Parks
official tasked with managing the macaques.

"It's not that they want to attack. They just think, if you have the
food, why don't you share it? Why are you eating and not sharing? Can
I have some? They cross the line".

Once the line has been crossed monkeys become invasive. Plastic
bag-grabbing and people-chasing is a pattern across Asia, from Hong
Kong to Penang, to Bali to Japan, Chan says.

MONKEY CULLING

Other Asian countries have set up special feeding areas for their
urban monkeys, but Singapore is backing an all-out ban on
monkey-feeding and stiff fines for offenders.

Eight close circuit television cameras have been installed at
"hotspots" over the last year, and a record 230 people fined upwards
of S$200 (68 pounds) for feeding monkeys.

Heavy-lidded "monkey-proof" bins -- which smart monkeys already work
in pairs to open, Chan says -- have been introduced.

While no one knows how many monkeys there are -- a survey ten years
ago found 850 -- some 80 monkeys are culled annually.

Misbehaving monkeys used to be rehabilitated at the island's zoo but
it stopped taking in macaques in 2002 because its cages were full.

"Killing them is not the same as for other animals," Professor Peter
Ng, Director of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity said. "Even for the
most hardened soul. When you look in a monkey's face, you see your
face in the mirror".

"Everyday the SPCA puts down cats and dogs, every week we shoot crows
and kill giant sewer rats. But with monkeys, the public make a big
fuss. So what's the solution? Don't feed the monkeys. We'll be forced
to shoot the monkeys if you don't stop."

HARD HABIT TO BREAK

It's a tough message for Singaporeans who have been feeding monkeys
all their lives.

Whenever he gets time, 50-year old driver J.J. Jolibi buys ten dollars
worth of bananas and heads for the roads by the reservoirs to feed and
watch curb-crawling troops.

The self-described animal-lover has been warned twice, but isn't
scared of fines:

"A fine is not very expensive," Jolibi said. "I'd feed them again.
Maybe the judge will be an animal lover and give me a warning. If the
judge hates monkeys, maybe he'll fine me".

Consultant Barbara Martelli, 42, who works with Chan, says stamping
out feeding won't be easy, even among Singaporeans well used to a
regular diet of government-sponsored education campaigns on everything
from flushing toilets to speaking good Mandarin.

"It is good fun. You can't deny that it's good fun. Monkeys are sweet
and funny," said Martelli.

And the habit is just as hard to break for the monkeys, she added:
"Human food is extremely addictive, because of the sugar and salt and
spices. It's much more tasty than forest food".

URBAN JUNGLE

While forests shrink across Asia, the stress Singapore's rapid
clearances of its dense primary rainforest have put on local flora and
fauna make it a "test case for disaster" Ng says.

The tiny island of 270 square miles has lost more than 95 percent of
its tropical jungle since the British arrived in 1819.

Hundreds of native animals have been lost; including the last tiger,
shot in 1930. The long-tailed macaques are among 50 percent of species
crammed into reserves covering only 0.25 percent of Singapore's land
area.

With no countryside to buffer urban areas from the jungle monkeys
can't help but transgress, Martelli says. But her success rate for
convincing humans to lessen tensions is only 50:50.

"People are so attached to their comforts. One woman I knew baked a
cake every week and put it on the windowsill. Of course they came for
it. It's a very selfish attitude -- I'd rather kill the monkeys and
keep on baking".

(c) Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.  |