Some serious monkey business

Some serious monkey business

Macaques battle human invasion in Bang Khunthian

At sunrise, a troop of long-tailed macaques forages in the mangroves in Bang Khunthian district, as they have been doing for years. These animals are no doubt aware of the disappearing forest and the incursion of sealed roads as they scavenge among trash for increasingly scarce food.

Long-tailed macaques in Soi Thian Talay in Bang Khunthian face the twin threats of forest erosion and humans. photos by Pawat Laopaisarntaksin

They may not understand that humans have taken over the domain, and that they are the intruders.

Located close to the Gulf of Thailand, Bang Khunthian is home to about 800 long-tailed macaques, which are facing the twin threats of urban area expansion and coastal erosion.

The monkeys face the risk of being hit by cars as they roam about seeking food or are attacked by local people as they try to approach them for the food that is in their hands.

"The monkeys are wicked. They steal food. They trespass," said Anant Liangbamrung, head of Bang Kadee community Moo 8 which lies close to the wetland in Bang Khunthian.

Mr Anant advises people with bags or other belongings in their hands to drop them if the monkeys try to approach. Many are bitten if they try to fight back or resist the monkeys.

Lured by the smell of food, a pack of about 50 monkeys usually gathers at Wat Bangka Kadee temple in Soi Thian Talay 22 early in the morning to steal food that the monks have collected during their morning alms round.

Locals also report food thefts by monkeys which break into their houses and open refrigerators. In the process, the monkeys destroy belongings, including cars.

Mr Anant said the long-tailed macaques are giving the locals a torrid time. Many are putting pressure on the district authorities to have the monkey thieves removed from the neighbourhood as soon as possible.

He said the primates wreak havoc on residents' ability to move about freely as they are intimidating and don't hesitate to bite when trying to steal food.

"We are having a lot of difficulty with these monkey thieves. We don’t want to kill them or do anything to them. We just want the authorities to sort them out," he said.

Some locals have been spotted using slingshots to chase away the mischievous monkeys when they try to steal food from their houses.

Somrith Sombun, 70, says he had to spend thousands of baht on repairs to the roof of his house after it was damaged by the macaques.

Local residents try to take a lenient approach to the creatures, Mr Sumrith said. They put shrimp paste kapi and a stuffed crocodile toy in front of their houses in an attempt to dissuade the primates from breaking into their homes. But the tricks do not always work.

“They tear the toy apart. They look at us with a wicked grin on their faces as they climb up the trees to escape us,” he said, adding older Thais believed monkeys fear kapi and a stuffed crocodile toy, but could not explain exactly why.

Of the approximate 800 macaques in the district, two to three hundred inhabit “Khun Kala”, a nearby mangrove forest which has become a new tourist destination; about 100 are in Soi Thian Talay 20; and another 100 in Soi Thian Talay 22. The rest stay in the mangrove forest area in Bang Kadee community, according to Chaturong Ponglamjiak, an official at Bang Khunthian district office.

The Bang Khunthian office has tried to work with the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to find ways to tackle the problem.

Relocation of the monkeys to the mangrove forest in the Khun Kala area would be a possible solution.

Apart from the muddy Bang Khunthian shoreline where mangrove forests form a shrubland habitat for the long-tailed macaques, the same problem of monkeys under threat can be found at Phra Kan Shrine in Lop Buri and at Khao Sam Muk in Chon Buri.

The Bang Khunthian mangrove forests are also a nursery for aquatic animals, including fish, shells, shrimp and crabs. Due to an increase in shrimp farming, the forests have been destroyed. Waves have also accelerated shoreline erosion.

The problem of monkeys in Bangkok, however, has worsened because of an attack on two fronts.

According to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), about 60% of the mangrove forest in the district has been turned into housing estates.

The BMA refers to studies which found that 800 metres to 1,000 metres of shoreline have eroded over the years. Between 1979 and 1991, the erosion was factored at 17.39m a year, which dropped to 9.5m from 1992 to 2000. Currently, 1.4m to 1.5m is being eroded each year.

Conservationist Mongkolpas Onkaew, who leads a group of animal rights activists who are trying to protect the long-tailed macaques, said members often drop by the area to leave food for the primates, helping to prevent attacks on passers-by.

The group raises money among themselves to buy fruit, including bananas, longan and mangosteen, to feed them.

They are considering launching a programme to raise funds to buy more food for them. Some of the money raised will be spent on relocation to Khun Kala.

The group collaborated with other animal lovers to arrange activities at a department store on Oct 4 last year, which was World Animal Day.

Ms Mongkolpas said long-tailed macaques were an integral part of the Bang Khunthian district. People should understand that the animals are under threat of losing their habitat while facing starvation.

"They are hungry and struggling to survive. If they are full, I don’t think they will rip food off the locals. Let’s protect the primates," she said.

Siriwan Yuthiphong, a security guard who has lived in the neighbourhood for over 30 years, said the monkeys had never been this fierce until recently.

Her observation was the monkeys have lost their home to human beings as the mangrove forest area — their home — is turned into residential projects.

"Imagine if somebody is razing your home and your land. It would hurt you, right? You have no home to live in, you have no food to eat. The animals feel the same," Ms Siriwan said.

Rungsrit Kanjanavanit, a committee member of the Seub Nakhasathien Foundation, said long-tailed macaques are not fierce but still can get aggressive at times.

"They are clever enough to recognise certain people who want to attack them,” he said.

Being very adaptive mammals, authorities should relocate them to a healthy forest, be it a marine national park in Sam Roi Yot district in Prachuap Khiri Khan or coastal provinces including Chanthaburi and Rayong which are replete with foods in the monkeys' diet, especially crabs, he added.

Mr Rungsrit feared an all-out battle among the male group leaders if the monkeys are relocated.

“Animals have a natural instinct for survival. I don’t think they are trying to hurt humans,” he said.

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