MACAQUE MOVE: Don't stop with the no-export decision

This was published in the NST-Letter to editor on 5 Feb 2008:

I REFER to your report "Ministry drops plan to export monkey" (NST, Feb 2).

Nature lovers against animal experiments and monkeys ending up in the cooking pot will give a round of applause to the decision of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry.

However, it was also worrying that the ministry had discovered that about 80 per cent of urban monkeys had contracted deadly diseases and were deemed unfit for export.

They were found to have deadly diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis and AIDS, according to the report.

This reminds me of the hundreds of monkeys when I visited Batu Caves a couple of weeks ago.
For the visitors, the monkeys are cute, funny and photogenic. However, the public needs to be educated that humans can be infected with diseases carried by the monkeys if there is close contact.

Veterinary experts have called for relocation programmes, reproduction controls and public education to stop residents from feeding or teasing the animals. Sterilisation and humane culling have also been suggested.

Education could be done at tourist attractions like Batu Caves. Put up a signboard or distribute information through leaflets to prevent unpleasant incidents.

Abandoning the export plan is a good move, but it does not mean that the urban monkeys should be left wandering in the cities without further action after their homes have been destroyed by unplanned development.