Rangers Drive Monkeys Back Into Forest on COVID-19 Alert

Vietnam News ^ | April, 06/2020

[nickcarraway]

Forest rangers have been attempting to drive troupes of monkeys (stump-tailed macaques) back to the Sơn Trà Nature Reserve in the central city of Đà Nẵng

Vice director of the city’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department Trần Viết Phương said a group of 30 monkeys that used to gather by the Linh Ứng Pagoda seeking food from visitors have been on the move since social distancing orders were implemented from April 1.

Phương said no tourists meant no food for the monkeys, so they would be forced to return to their natural habitat to forage for themselves.

Recent research on the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 passing from humans to monkeys found there was a chance if the two were in close contact.

Trần Hữu Vỹ, a biodiversity conservationist, said in order to stop the monkeys gathering at tourism sites, it was necessary to stop feeding them.

Last year, the city warned tourists not to feed animals at the Linh Ứng Pagoda, Sơn Trà Temple and Intercontinental Đà Nẵng Resort.

The monkeys were getting used to taking candy, snacks and fruit from visitors.

Several conflicts have occurred since last year.

A baby monkey was grabbed by a local man at the Linh Ứng Pagoda, while two other monkeys were killed by household dogs at farms in the Sơn Trà Reserve.

An older monkey was also hit by a car at the foot of Sơn Trà Mountain.

The 4,439ha reserve is a safe habitat for the red-shanked douc langur (Pygathryx nemaeus), an endangered primate species listed by the International Union of Conservation of Nature.

[nickcarraway]

[a fool in paradise]

Do they use a Monkeemobile to drive them??

[lee martell]

There is a small colony of these monkeys down in Florida right now. Most of them are suspected of having herpes.
Do not feed or pet these monkeys. They are not helpless, gentle Koala Bears.

[oldasrocks]

Can’t we import these poor things and replace part of Congress with them. It would be an improvement.

[BenLurkin]

Served best mutilated. With a side of little dirty birdies feet.

[Sirius Lee]

Don't mess with Texas.

I will read article later, but for now, it's all headline reaction.

[DannyTN]

[Ben Hecks]

Vietnam has a variety of monkeys. In 1969, there was a tribe that lived in a patch of vegetation on the US Army Long Binh Post. They became pests and raided the clotheslines of female troops and civilians which created much discontent. It was suspected that they also carried diseases and, possibly, rabies. The problem grew to the point it was decided to eliminate them. In an operation known as the Great Long Binh Monkey Hunt, a group of “beaters” started on one side of the thicket and drove the monkeys out where a group of “shooters” armed with MP issue shotguns took care of the problem. Unfortunately, the SPCA in the US learned of the incident and roundly criticized the operation. After time, the issue was forgotten but the clotheslines remained untouched after that.

[blam]

I was in Danang in 1966, didn’t see any monkeys.

[SgtHooper]

They need to be snake bait!! Push em into the glades!!

[an amused spectator]

Hopefully, no one unleashes "tropes of monkeys".

That stuff is dangerous.