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jdd2007
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Cincinnati
Aug 2001
time: 00:29
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quote:
"The Formosan macaque, a monkey protected under Taiwan law, has become a pest to farmers living near the mountains.
The monkeys are protected because they are unique to the island, but their increasing numbers have made them the dominate primate in the mountainous regions. They act in groups, and according to farmers in these areas, have become more and more bold and aggressive.
In Taitung County, located at the eastern end of Taiwan's Central Mountains, an owner of a chicken farm complained that the monkeys often harass his chickens. And he said they aren't doing it for food, but instead are just playing monkey games such as plucking the feathers of roosters and placing hens on branches high up in the trees.
A goat ranch owner in Fuyuan, Taitung County, said that a Formosan macaque arrived at his ranch this year and soon started harassing his goats, even sexually attacking the female ones.
He said he bought six dogs to keep the monkey away from his goats, but the monkey tamed the dogs within ten minutes. At first, the monkey stood out of the reach of the dogs which were kept on leads, and then slapped them in the face when they became tired of barking at him. Frightened by the monkey, the dogs became timid in its presence.
The farmer said he had to turn to agricultural officials to have the monkey captured using an anesthetic dart gun.
Another farmer who raises boars in Tama, Taitung County, said wild monkeys often tease his boars by riding on their backs like a man on a horse.
In the mountain villages of Wulu and Litao where farmers grow cabbage and green peppers, the wild monkeys seem to know better than the farmers when the crops become ripe. They raid the fields in their hundreds, not only eating until they are full but also ravaging the nearby crops before the farmers can harvest them.
The irrigation pipes laid by farmers to channel water from the mountains to their fields has become the monkeys' highway. They climb through them to cross streams and valleys and into fruit gardens.
As if knowing that they are protected by law, the monkeys are not easily frightened away by the farmers when they see them coming.
The farmers have gone to extra lengths to protect their crops, using such methods as setting off firecrackers, playing tape recordings of gun shots sounding every few seconds, or keeping dogs in their fields.
However, all these efforts have been in vain, as the monkeys keep coming back. Its seems that in Taiwan's mountainous regions, it is the Formosan macaque which rules the roost. " |
 It's a little scary though, and definitely weird. Nice link.
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21-07-2003 22:45
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