Along with requesting tour organizers to refrain from allowing visitors to feed the macaques, the county and city also implemented a system of fines for the interference with and feeding of the apes. The current penalty ranges from fines between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000 and, or up to six months in prison.
The law, however, is tremendously difficult to enforce. Public pathways that snake through many of the areas inhabited by the macaque are often littered with the remnants of the fruit, biscuits and even lunch boxes brought along by tourists in order to feed the apes.
"Sure you can put up signs and threaten people with fines, but because the areas in which the macaques roam cover such large tracts of land enforcement of the law is nearly impossible," admitted Chyi. "To really confound matters, not all the areas have the same law. While fines exist in Kaohsiung County, no such fines are evident in Tainan." Which is probably just as well as such penalties would possibly lead to one of the county's most recognizable celebrity's immediate incarceration.
For the past 18 years, Lin Bing-hsio (林 修 ) , or "Monkey Daddy" (獼猴爸爸) as he has become known, has been feeding and enjoying the company of troops of macaques who call his mountain-side plot of land in Tainan County home.
"I'll readily admit that feeding macaques is not something that people should do, especially feeding them bian dangs and other equally odd food stuffs," Lin said. "I don't over feed them and I only feed them fruit, which ensures that the macaques don't loose their natural foraging ability. They have the whole forest to feed on when I'm not there."
Increased contact between ape and human has also raised concerns about the health of both parties. While the chances of a macaque actually killing someone are pretty slim due to the creatures' non-predatory nature, the possibilities that the massed members of a troop might attack and seriously wound an individual cannot be dismissed.
According to government data, the numbers of macaque attacks that have resulted in serious injuries are relatively few. Since it became compulsory for hospitals to report monkey attacks in 1998, records show that there have been 12 such incidents across the nation, the most recent of which took place in Taichung County earlier this year.
While experts at the symposium found themselves confronted by even greater problems than originally expected, several long-term ideas were put forward regarding the continuing parallel existence of human and ape.
"Do you allow the activities to continue unchecked? Simply shut down all tourist activity? Or somehow separate the macaques from people?" asked Spowart. "Whichever one you opt for, other problems will undoubtedly arise given time. The best place to begin is with increased educational awareness aimed at teaching people about the creature, its' habits and habitat."
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