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Updated Saturday, February 14, 2009 9:28 am TWN, The China Post news staff

Kaohsiung hiring people to chase off menacing monkeys

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan -- The Kaohsiung City Government is recruiting 28 unemployed people for a temporary job of chasing away the Taiwan monkeys (Formosan macaques) that have been pestering residents and visitors at Tsaishan (Mt. Burning Wood) area.

Each of the recruits will be paid NT$100 per hour or NT$800 for a day's work of driving away the monkeys.

The task is among the various projects launched by the city government with support from the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) to create short-term jobs for people from families beset by financial stresses.

The Council of Agriculture (COA) also lends its support because the project involves the protection of monkeys.

Chasing away mischievous monkeys will help safeguard residents and avoid confrontations between people and the protected animals, officials said.

Formosan macaques have been put on a list of endangered animals in need of protection and conservation.

However, the monkeys at Tsaishan area enjoyed unusually rapid and high fertility rates due to improper feeding practices by an increasing numbers of visitors to the area.

When hungry, the monkeys tended to break into residents' homes or gardens for food. They also harassed tourists who refuse to offer free food or snacks.

At the urging of environmental protectionists, the city government issued rules to ban visitors from feeding foodstuffs to the Formosan macaques.

Violators are subject to a fine of NT$6,000. But the rules were rarely enforced.

The 28 people to be hired by the city government will mainly chase the monkeys away from the open roads while persuading visitors not to give any food to the animals for the next eight months.

Residents in the districts welcomed the plan.

But others cast the doubts that the plan and the budget of NT$4 million will be effective to make the monkeys change the habit and behave themselves.

Animal conservationists said the recruits should focus on efforts to teach the visitors not to contact, feed and interfere with the monkeys so that the animals will gradually leave people alone.

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February 18, 2009 hardi013@

I feel that educating the people who have, through their actions, encouraged the monkeys to behave in ways that get them food, is the obvious solution to this problem. Why not educate jobless locals on how to educate mountain visitors and inhabitants about responsible co-habitation? This would lead to long-term jobs for the jobless and a long-term solution to the monkey "problem."

Furthermore, I'm curious as to how the employees will "chase out" monkeys. I've seen locals shooting monkeys with bb guns in the past, which is very cruel, especially considering we are technically invading the monkeys' space.



	The rapid increase in the population of Taiwan monkeys (Formosan macaques) in the Tsaishan area of the southern port city of Kaohsiung prompts the city government to hire people to drive them back into the woods. (CNA file photo) Enlarge Photo


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