Coexist with nature or relocate
"If she is so adverse to monkeys, why purchase a house on the southern banks of the Palmiet River almost alongside the entrance to the Palmiet Nature Reserve?"
I FIND it amazing that people who live in Africa, and specifically those who have the privilege of witnessing wildlife almost on a daily basis, can find little other to do other than complain about the monkeys and wish for their demise.
The latest such complaint about monkeys was from a resident of David McLean Drive in Westville.
If she is so adverse to monkeys, why purchase a house on the southern banks of the Palmiet River almost alongside the entrance to the Palmiet Nature Reserve?
What does she expect to find living in a riverine forest along the river and its surrounds other than monkeys?
I resided on the northern side of the reserve almost directly opposite her home from 1975 to 2002 and in all that time the monkeys were ubiquitous.
They certainly did not suddenly appear post 2004 as is suggested.
On the Berea and well away from Burman Bush, troops of monkeys may still be found.
The Berea, once a coastal forest and now built-up, is a home to monkeys who perforce adapted to living in this urban jungle.
The much travelled complainant from Hillcrest, Rex Montgomery, clearly was not as observant in his youth as he suggests, as the monkeys, believe it or not, have been around for a long time in parts of both Hillcrest and Kloof.
Alan Townsend of Cowies Hill lives a little more than a stone throw from the New Germany Nature Reserve and the Paradise Valley Nature Reserve.
Suggesting reintroducing leopards, caracals and baboons, et al to control the vervet numbers is at best a puzzling idea!
If vervets are currently a problem, then how would one cope with carnivorous wildlife?
Surely the baboons would present an even greater danger and nuisance in an urban environment than the monkeys?
Similarly, the mind boggles at the enquiry made some time ago from an individual with a house overlooking the Krantzkloof Nature Reserve, with respect to having the resident Crowned Eagles relocated.
To the above and the other recent complainants, if you are unable to coexist with the local wildlife perhaps you should consider relocating to a more sterile environment without any or with limited wildlife.
That of course will be difficult to find; perhaps the United Arab Emirates may be an option for you to consider – if you can stand the summer heat – or the United Kingdom where they seem intent on removing the last remaining residuals of any European wildlife; the badgers and foxes!
In short get a life, enjoy nature and be grateful that we still have some wildlife around us!
John Forbes
Hillcrest
