Phuket embarks on monkey sterilisation campaign
Phuket has launched its monkey sterilisation programme after a series of public meetings came to the conclusion that the problem caused by the island’s monkeys in the public ‘hot’ zones needed to be tackled.
Five islands that have been surveyed as new homes for the monkeys are not in reserved forest areas. The authorities will be able to use the land on the islands but will not be able to construct buildings. The transfer of the monkeys to the islands will be supervised by the Phuket governor.
On Tuesday morning cages were placed at Bang Rong Pier in Paklok and food was placed as bait for the monkeys but the cages were not closed. However, they will run out of luck on Wednesday when the cages will be closed and the monkeys removed from the area for sterilisation. At Baan Yamu, officials were unable to place cages as there was a high tide.
Pongchart Chouehorm, the director of the Natural and Wildlife Education Centre at Khao Phra Thaew Non-Hunting Area in Thalang, said: “There are about 140 monkeys at these two locations in Paklok. These monkeys will be taken to an area we’ve set aside for sterilisation at the Bang Pae Waterfall in Paklok. Next, the cages will be placed in Rassada to go through the same process with those monkeys.”
