Mon, Apr 06, 2020 page9

• Visitors to Yushan National Park risk fines for feeding macaques 玉山遊客頻餵獼猴 罰單最高處三千元

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  The Tataka Recreation Area in Yushan National Park attracts almost 700,000 visitors every year. We are now in the breeding season for Formosan macaques, and you can often see macaques of all sizes running around in the area. Unfortunately, there are also many examples of members of the public feeding the animals, which is against the regulations. Some individuals, disregarding calls not to do so, have been given tickets for throwing food at the animals through their car windows. This behavior not only teaches the macaques not to be afraid of people and to come to rely on visitors for food, it can also cause physical harm to the macaques, or encourage them to jump into vehicles and fight with the occupants. According to the Yushan National Park Administration Office, feeding the macaques illegally can result in a fine of up to NT$3,000, and it called on visitors to obey the regulations if they travel to the area over the Qingming Festival long weekend, or they might find themselves out of pocket.

  According to the office, macaques generally travel around in groups, and there have been cases of people who have had macaques enter vehicles with the windows left open in the recreation area’s Shihshan Car Park, and the animals have destroyed the food and clothing in the vehicles. In the past there have even been cases where the monkeys have stolen items or sat on the roof of a vehicle. If members of the public are injured by the macaques, there is a real danger of the humans being infected with a zoonotic disease.

  In addition, visitors feeding animals may influence those animals’ behavior patterns and reduce macaques’ level of wariness of humans, and this could lead to their playing along roads, thus increasing the chances of them being killed by oncoming vehicles. This would also constitute a danger to road users.

  

  Formosan macaques are often active in the Yushan National Park Tataka Recreation Area. As members of the public often feed the animals, the macaques ingest high sugar content human foods, and this can adversely affect their health and affect their ability to forage for their own food.
  玉山國家公國塔塔加園區，常見台灣獼猴出沒，但因民眾習慣餵食，使得獼猴攝取高糖的人類食物，不僅有害健康，也影響覓食能力。

  Photo courtesy of the Yushan National Park Administration Office
  照片：玉山國家公國管理處提供

  (Translated by Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)

  玉山國家公國塔塔加園區，每年吸引近七十萬人次造訪，近期正逢台灣獼猴生育季節，常見大小獼猴活動，但民眾違規餵食情況也增多，甚至有人不聽勸，頻頻在車上丟食物餵獼猴而吃上罰單，由於此舉不僅養成獼猴不怕人，依賴外界餵食，也容易造成獼猴身體負擔，或是闖入車內與遊客發生衝突，玉山國家公國管理處強調，違規餵食最高可處三千元，呼籲遊客清明連假上山務必遵守規範，以免荷包失血。

  玉管處表示，獼猴經常群體活動，就有民眾在園區石山停車場因車輛未關窗戶，遭台灣獼猴闖入車內，破壞車內食物、衣物等情形，過去甚至曾發生動手行搶、霸佔車頂等，若有遊客不慎受傷，很可能出現人畜共通傳染病的風險。

  此外，民眾餵食會影響動物習性，容易降低獼猴對人的戒心，導致獼猴喜歡跑到道路嬉戲玩耍，不僅可能增加被路殺的風險，也危及用路人的安全。

  （自由時報）
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