'Alien' monkeys facing cull to save native breed

[Guest guest]

from Barbara Healy:

 

 

 

>http://www.asahi.com/english/asahi/1116/asahi111610.html

>

> >

>

> >`Alien' monkeys facing cull to save native breed

>

> >

>

> >Their slightly longer tails may doom a band of

>

> >Formosan apes living here with their Japanese cousins.

>

> >

>

> >

>

> >Asahi Shimbun

>

> >

>

> >By KENICHI SHINOZUKA

>

> >

>

> >November 16, 2000

>

> >

>

> >WAKAYAMA-Time appears to be running out for Wakayama

>

> >Prefecture's population of Formosan apes and the mixed

>

> >offspring of their interbreeding with indigenous

>

> >Japanese apes.

>

> >

>

> >To ensure that the native primate survives unchanged

>

> >in its habitat, the prefectural government plans to

>

> >capture all the monkeys and to ``dispose of'' the

>

> >non-indigenous ones before returning the rest to the

>

> >wild.

>

> >

>

> >The major difference between the Japanese and Formosan

>

> >animals is the length of their tails-with those of the

>

> >native species being about 10 centimeters long, to the

>

> >Taiwanese apes' 40 centimeters. The tails of the

>

> >mixed-blood monkeys average midway between the two.

>

> >

>

> >When a Kawasaki-based company surveyed the simians for

>

> >the prefectural government during the last fiscal

>

> >year, it found there were two groups-each numbering

>

> >from 70 to 100 individuals-that included both types of

>

> >monkeys and their mixed offspring, which made up more

>

> >than half the total.

>

> >

>

> >The survey found the animals were concentrated in some

>

> >14 square kilometers of mountain forests between the

>

> >cities of Wakayama and Kainan.

>

> >

>

> >It is believed that the Formosan apes first took to

>

> >the wooded wilds of Wakayama after the 1955 closure of

>

> >Wakayama Natural Zoology Park, which was in the area

>

> >of their current habitat.

>

> >

>

> >According to an 81-year-old former trainer there, a

>

> >Kobe-based animal-trading company had been running the

>

> >park, but then gave up the zoo business. Although

>

> >bears and many other animals were destroyed when the

>

> >park was closed, he said it is widely believed 20 or

>

> >30 Formosan apes escaped into the forest.

>

> >

>

> >Now, though, a prefectural countermeasures committee

>

> >plans to catch all the monkeys by luring them with

>

> >food into big cages. After that, the pure-blood

>

> >indigenous individuals will be returned to the forest.

>

> >As for the rest, it appears prefectural government

>

> >efforts to get zoos to take them have so far failed.

>

> >

>

> >If that remains the case, prefectural officials say

>

> >they intend to ``dispose of them.''

>

> >

>

> >However, the primate plan is far from unopposed, and

>

> >the prefectural office has been flooded with claims

>

> >from citizens that the animals' right to live should

>

> >be respected. Many protesters point out that people

>

> >brought in the Formosan apes in the first place, and

>

> >it is selfish to treat them like this now. They also

>

> >argue that the mixed-blood monkeys should not be

>

> >excluded from the forest, and should be allowed to

>

> >coexist with indigenous ones.

>

> >

>

> >Such sentiments, though, must confront the Convention

>

> >on Biological Diversity, to date signed by 177

>

> >nations-including Japan-since the 1992 U.N. Conference

>

> >on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. This

>

> >stipulates that nations should ``prevent the

>

> >introduction of, control or eradicate those alien

>

> >species which threaten ecosystems, habitats or

>

> >species.''

>

> >

>

> >The Wakayama prefectural government considers the

>

> >mixed-blood monkeys to be equivalent to an ``alien

>

> >species that threatens ecosystems.''

>

> >

>

> >As a result, said Shingo Maekawa, 66, a part-time high

>

> >school teacher and member of the prefecture's

>

> >countermeasures committee, ``the government should be

>

> >blamed for not taking any measures. If people

>

> >introduce alien species (of any animal) again ... we

>

> >might well repeat the same mistake.''

>

> >

>

> >Meanwhile, on the Shimokita Peninsula in Aomori

>

> >Prefecture-where the Japanese monkeys living at the

>

> >northern limit of their possible habitat are

>

> >designated a natural treasure-the population is also

>

> >feared to be mixed with Formosan apes that escaped

>

> >from a privately run tourist ranch.

>

> >

>

> >And further south, on the Boso Peninsula in Chiba

>

> >Prefecture, Japanese monkeys may be mixed with foreign

>

> >rhesus monkeys, according to assistant professor Kunio

>

> >Watanabe of the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto

>

> >University in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture.

>

> >

>

> >Copyright 2000 Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. No

>

> >reproduction or republication without written

>

> >permission.

>

>

 

 

MACAQUES.COM / Your MAC-home on the WEB

http://www.macaques.com/

 

UNITED PRIMATE PROTECTION SOCIETY

UnitedPrimateProtectionSociety

" WE'RE ON YOUR SIDE "

JOIN US in the Fight to Protect your Rights!

 

Find the best deals on the web at AltaVista Shopping!

http://www.shopping.altavista.com