(MY) (macaque disturbances in the country

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Cover Story: Monkeys on a hot tin roof - Sunday Times

12 Nov 2006

Wilson Henry

 

 

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To some they are cute and to others, they are urban marauders with a

tail. That's your monkey, displaced by development and deforestation

and adapted to its new circumstances. The monkeys are aping our

behaviour to live with us in surburbia.

 

FOR some households, these are the neighbours they rather not have.

They raid the refrigerators, go through mail, rummage through clothes

and even use make-up. And some pinch hand mirrors to admire

themselves.

 

The neighbourhood monkey has evolved from merely swinging from tree to

tree to being a menace, house raider and, in some ways, a mischievous

version of ourselves.

 

Passing motorists in Shah Alam sometimes stop in amazement and laugh

to see the monkey business in the neighbourhood.

 

What do you expect when they see a long tailed macaque peering at a

mirror that it had pinched, imitating our vanity. And that too after

powdering itself with talcum and eating a tube of toothpaste.

 

Having a tail does not stop the monkey from thinking it is a

fabulously beautiful creature.

 

" The monkeys are watching us, " says Suarni Sakiman who has seen the

monkey admiring itself in the mirror.

 

" I have seen the monkey run off with toothpaste and talcum powder and

stopping to check its teeth and face.

 

" Sometimes the monkey thinks there is another monkey there and tries

to get at it. "

 

In Shah Alam's Section 10, Suarni says the neighbourhood problem is

caused by one lone monkey.

 

The long-tailed macaque tips garbage bins looking for food, enters

homes, runs away with food in plastic containers and terrifies

womenfolk.

 

One of the residents' pet peeves is dirty streets littered with

spillage from garbage.

 

" When it is not running away with a party susan tray and Hari Raya

cakes, it will dig into bins, sniff into bags and leave a trail of

garbage. "

 

And pets too are not safe. " This monkey is lonely so it has taken to

playing with the other animals in the neighbourhood, " says Suarni.

 

" When it not pulling the cat's tail, it is running off with the

kittens. It will cradle the kitten for hours and run all over the

place even on the rooftops with helpless kittens and rabbits. "

 

Suarni believes the monkey wants to play with the little animals. But

the monkey, says Suarni, is careless. It often drops them from the

rooftops or roughs them up, and sometimes dunks them in water.

 

" Many kittens have died because of the monkey. " And the monkey will

wail when it sees them dead.

 

Observers such as Assistant Wildlife officer Saidu Wahid note that

monkeys tend to adapt to their surroundings.

 

When their natural habitat were cleared for development, many of these

monkeys ended up by the roadside foraging.

 

In housing estates they raided homes for food and whatever else caught

their fancy.

 

They have adapted to their new circumstances as urban monkeys. But

most men and women are not prepared for this.

 

Zulkifli Mohd Noor, Selangor Wildlife department assistant officer,

says monkeys take things from the house after observing people around

them.

 

" Monkeys are good at imitating. And they are fast learners, " says Zulkifli.

 

" All they need to do is watch what we do and they can imitate it which

would explain why they can put on lipstick and want to take talcum

powder, detergent and toothpaste. "

 

But the monkey situation is not just about mischief. In some places,

the presence of monkeys has also meant that destruction of property.

Wires are what they like to swing from since there are no trees left.

 

In Sungai Buloh, the monkeys run riot all around some of the streets

in Bukit Rahman Putra housing estate says housewife Diana Lim.

 

There is a nearby forest and with no food the monkeys have ventured out.

 

Anyone driving into her street might be amused to see how a troop of

monkeys sit on the rooftops dislodging tiles when they feel like it.

 

" You can see how the monkeys have taken over the rooftops. They run

and damage television antennaes and our roofs, " says Lim.

 

" And they can be spiteful, if you chase them away, they are able to

recognise you and later throw roof tiles at you. "

 

And on lazy afternoons, the monkeys take a spin on rooftop air ventilators.

 

" They will let their tails down and spin round and round, " says a

visitor who was amused by the spectacle.

 

But what's most telling about their behavioural pattern is their power

to observe how men and women live and function.

 

" They seem to know when to break into the house and rummage for food, "

says Saidu.

 

They are also able to identify men and women and can sense who to be wary of.

 

" Whenever there are men around, the monkeys don't come. They only come

around whenever there are womenfolk, " notes Suarni.

 

While some playfully shock the women, one will rush to look for food.

 

" They tend to like fruits or bread and they will help themselves. They

know how to open the refrigerator and take bread, " says another

resident in Shah Alam.

 

Reports of simian visits indicate that monkeys usually come in and

saunter around the house. If they feel like it they will even run up

stairs, and take anything that catches their fancy.

 

" They have an air about them, a bit of cheekiness and bravado.

Sometimes they will bare their teeth. "

 

Wildlife officers note that the monkeys are trying to intimidate and

see how we respond.

 

Women, according to Saidu, get unnerved by the raiding monkeys and are

usually unable to chase them away.

 

" Most often they scream in shock and fear. The monkeys are of course

in control and leave only when they sense a threat, " says Saidu.

 

In some areas, the monkeys are treated as curiosities and cute diversions.

 

" Children like to play with them and some, like six-year-old Ayu from

Batu Tiga, feeds them fruits and rice, " says her mother Rahayu.

 

She has even given them names and calls out " Bimbo, Bimbo " whenever

she wants to feed them and amuse herself, unaware that monkeys carry

diseases.

 

But it is this pattern of behaviour that primatologists advises

against. Feeding monkeys only encourages them to stay on and adapt to

their surroundings.

 

Dr Shahrul Anuar from University Sains Malaysia says the monkey

problem is out of control in some areas because people see them as

cute pets.

 

" Don't feed the monkeys, they will keep coming back for more. And try

to make sure that garbage is secure so that they cannot get at it. "

 

Shahrul says the monkeys can be relocated or neutered to keep their

numbers down.

 

" The monkeys presently are in urban areas since their natural habitats

have been developed and they have no food. When they come to the

houses they are looking for food. "

 

Feeding the monkey can also bring out other problems. The problem,

says Zulkifli, will get bad once the monkeys can't get food.

 

" They will then threaten people and will likely attack people,

especially children, " he adds.

 

In Batu Tiga just on the fringes of Taman Mutiara Subang, there are

two colonies of monkeys.

 

Two hefty adult monkeys and their young literally let their tails down

and have a party swinging and leaping from trees on to the tin roofs

of the houses.

 

The monkeys are well fed, and scamper about without a care in the

world. Some people have come to treat them as pets while others see

them as nuisance.

 

The problem will begin once the supply of food dwindles once people

shift or move away.

 

The monkeys will then move to the yet unoccupied housing estate next

door, foraging from garbage cans once home owners move in. And

eventually they will break into homes.

 

" Don't be surprised to see monkeys living on the rooftops soon, " warns

Zulkifli.

 

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News Focus: 'They can even dodge the bullets'

12 Nov 2006

Wilson Henry and Elizabeth John

 

 

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THE purr of his Proton Waja or Pajero is enough warning for the

monkeys. In a flash these long tailed macaques will scamper into side

lanes or disappear into drains.

 

It happens every time an officer attends to reports of monkeys making

a nuisance of themselves in neighbourhoods.

 

" Sometimes all I can see are the ends of their tails disappearing over

a rooftop, " says Saidu Wahid, a veteran Selangor Wildlife officer.

 

 

 

" They can recognise people. I don't know if it's merely by smell or

mere recognition, but the monkeys immediately disappear.

 

" Wearing disguises or hiding the shotgun doesn't help either. "

 

Officers in Selangor are saddled with an especially tough task. Last

year, Selangor topped the list for the most number of complaints on

monkey mayhem.

 

With development spreading almost virally here, big groups of macaques

are rapidly getting trapped in little green pockets.

 

Little thought is spared for the animal when development begins, says

Siti Hawa Yatim, Wildlife Department's head of biodiversity

conservation.

 

" We come into the picture only when the conflict between monkeys and

people have become serious. "

 

She complains, " If only developers call us in for advice earlier. "

 

It's the kind of conflict that's given the department quite a large headache.

 

The department estimates that there are about 130,000 problem macaques

nationwide.

 

Again, Selangor accounts for the largest portion — 32,000 individuals

— mostly in the Petaling district, Shah Alam and Klang.

 

Officers like Saidu respond to complaints by trapping and relocating

the problem monkeys, shooting only as a last resort.

 

When a macaque has been a major disturbance, has attacked people and

consistently eluded capture, there's little choice but to shoot,

explains Siti Hawa.

 

This is just the case in Section 10, Shah Alam where the trap for the

lone macaque lies empty.

 

" I'm at my wits end. I've tried shooting three times but it seems the

monkey can even dodge the bullets, " says Saidu.

 

There's nothing simple about catching a macaque, says Siti Hawa. The

wily creatures learn quickly that the trap — a large metal box full of

food —is not a fun place to be.

 

Quite the escape artists, they've even learned how to get into the bad

box, toss its contents out and finally, climb up their lowered tails

of their waiting pals and out to freedom.

 

Sometimes, residents in affected areas free monkeys from traps, as

they did recently in Batu Tiga where the department trapped some.

 

Sometimes there is this conflict between residents who complain about

the monkeys and those that consider the long-tailed ones welcome

guests, says Saidu.

 

" When some of them get attached to the monkeys and start feeding them,

our job becomes tougher. "

 

Why? Because in the forest there are only fruits and shoots to eat but

near a housing area, there's a lot more — probably tastier too, like

junk food.

 

There's also all those kind humans who will happily feed the monkeys.

 

" So when food is plentiful, it's a signal to the colony that it can

support larger numbers, and so they breed more, " says Siti Hawa.

 

Dr Sharul Annuar from USM, says that feeding must stop to enable the

monkeys to be relocated to forests.

 

And the relocation has to be deep in the jungle. There the monkey

can't get out and head for highways where they wait to be fed by

passing motorists.

 

" Don't worry about monkeys not adapting, if they can imitate humans,

they will be also able to imitate the monkeys in the forests to

survive, " says Sharul.

 

" But there is one problem with relocation — it's getting local

authorities to agree to accept the monkeys. "

 

Sharul's other suggestion is to neuter the animals to reduce their population.

 

" Neutering can help reduce the population but it can't remove the

problem, " says Saidu.

 

Especially a problem of the long-tailed kind in Section 10.

 

Here Saidu's planning to try a new method with the Houdini of a

macaque whose vanishing acts have frustrated the officer many a time.

 

His new secret weapon — a mirror.

 

" Macaques seem fascinated by their own image. They always steal

mirrors, so they may be lured by one, " says Saidu.

 

There'll be no warning of rumbling engines, no useless disguises and

best of all, no gun.

 

 

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Managing the monkeys

 

AREAS facing critical macaque disturbance problems could be

monkey-free in the next five years, according to a Wildlife department

management plan.

 

These are areas where large populations of monkeys will have not a

tree branch to swing from in the near future.

 

Most of them are highly developed suburbs in the Klang Valley

including Bangsar and Damansara.

 

In Selangor, areas targeted are Petaling, Klang and Shah Alam.

 

Macaques from these areas will be trapped and relocated, says Wildlife

Department's Siti Hawa Yatim.

 

" Because green areas in Selangor are dwindling so rapidly, the monkeys

will have no home. It's sad but we simply have to move them. "

 

The department is also considering neutering the macaques where the

population is too large.

 

" We will carefully consider the cases and neutering will only be done

by the department with the help of the Veterinary Services

Department. "