Stressed Singaporeans crack down on thieving monkeys
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - 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 (US$130) 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. Continued...
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