Monkey menace

Having lived next to the nature reserve for seven years. This is the first time that Long-tailed Macaques have become a menace in the neighborhood. 

Despite authorities imposing fines on people who feed monkeys. Many with young children in cars are still doing so along the fringes of the huge nature reserve. Someone had pointed out that may be these families feel it is okay to feed the monkeys. They pay $5 to feed the  captive animals at the zoo, on the fringe of the reserves it is FREE and they can feed the monkeys for as long as they want.
Most may not realize that feeding wild animals, disrupts their natural behavior and causes them to lose their fear of people. Do these people know what happens to the monkeys that are caught when they are deemed a nuisance? There is no such thing as re-location or rehabilitation for these monkeys. They are put down. 

In a span of three days, my home has been the site of monkey mayhem. On Saturday, a lone male with a badly healed broken leg (exiled by his troupe) wrecked havoc in my kitchen. It tore through several packets of biscuits that I had on the counter and scattered crumbs all over. It could have been worse had I not gone downstairs to investigate. He ended up sitting on my neighbor's roof eating his spoils.

You can see from this photo how crooked his leg is. I thought it had gone back into the forest but it seems that it craves human food. This monkey has has stolen bread and eggs from my neighbors during his previous raids.

On Monday, a troupe of eight were on the roof top raiding gutters and one went dumpster diving. I managed to chase them away. Before they departed they decided to show their displeasure by doing a monkey dance on the Plexiglas roof. 

These days, I more vigilant and do my part in ensuring that I do not encourage the macaques to visit. I do not leave food trash outside my kitchen. The minute I see a troupe or a lone macaque loitering on the roofs, I close all windows and doors. If there is nothing to tempt them, they will leave and head back into the forest where they belong.