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Farmers up in arms over damage caused by protected monkey

A farmer feeds a monkey yesterday as more than 200 farmers from the center of the country appealed to the Legislative Yuan and the Council of Agriculture to address problems caused by the Formosan macaque. PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUI, TAIPEI TIMES

More than 200 farmers from central Taiwan appealed yesterday to the Legislative Yuan and the Council of Agriculture to address problems caused by the Formosan macaque.

The farmers, accompanied by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tseng Tsai Mei-tsou (曾蔡美佐), first protested outside the legislature in downtown Taipei, urging the government to protect their rights.

The farmers complained that the monkeys take their fruit, ravage farmland, and even sometimes harass women and children.

They asked the government to consider taking the monkeys off the conserved animal list and that the council also compensate them for their crop losses.

They said that although the macaques repeatedly wreak havoc on farmland, they cannot be rounded up or killed because they are protected animals -- so the only way to deal with them is to chase them away.

They suggested that the COA conduct a comprehensive count of the animals to investigate their numbers and consider removing them from the protected animal list.

The farmers later went to the council with their requests. In addition to compensation for crop losses and removal of the monkeys from the protected list, they also suggested that a tourism zone be set up to shelter the macaque.

They brought with them two rock macaques in cages, along with pineapple plants damaged by the macaques and pointed out how the animals gnaw the roots of the plants, seriously affecting the crop.

Council Vice Chairman Tai Chen-yao (戴振耀) said the council would set up a task force to investigate the damage and study ways of subsidizing the farmers.
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