More monkey business

ProAnimalia has implemented several successful programs, one of which was started in July 2004 in Kalimantan to save wild macaques that were being beaten to death or drowned in the river by locals who saw them as pests for raiding their crops.

The actual call for help came from these same locals who were worried about the effects the killings were having on their children.

Despite being informed about the situation, ProAnimalia director Femke den Haas was not prepared for the sight that awaited her team at the location when they arrived: a grave full of about 250 dead macaques.

The team went to work, making large wooden traps with holes at the top for the macaques to enter, but from which they would not be able to exit. The groups of monkeys were then taken to a forested area in the same district, which was not far from where they were, and released.

Rivers, roads and other human infrastructure prevent the monkeys from returning to the plantations, and they can live freely again without the threat of being killed, she said.

The funding that was needed for the program was also kept to a minimum, she added, saying that they only needed to trap the monkeys and provide medical care when needed, before relocating them.

The solution offered by ProAnimalia has won praise from the Forestry Department and the local council, which, in a meeting held just over a month ago, called the relocation a sound alternative to a growing problem that is affecting many parts of the country.

"There are problems everywhere with macaques in Indonesia and their loss of habitat, but killing them is not a solution," den Haas said.

-- Maria Lisa K.