There’s growing concern over escalating conflict between people and monkeys. Readers share their experiences and advice on how to live peacefully with the primates.

Samantha Akker Basson – Put food away. Don’t tempt the monkeys. They will come into your house, but if they see there is nothing for them to eat they will just leave again. That’s what we do.

Genevieve Chisholm – Feeding monkeys? Think again! What seems like a kind gesture is actually doing serious harm. Feeding monkeys:
Disrupts their natural diet, makes them dependent on humans and brings them dangerously close to homes. Pregnant females are dying during birth due to malnutrition, directly linked to inappropriate human food. Keep them wild, close your windows, secure food waste, and never feed monkeys. Be part of the solution. [shortened]

Johnny Baz Dalton – What’s being done to control the monkey population within Ballito and surrounding areas? Their numbers are growing. Surely we can’t control the invasions to your homes if the troops are becoming larger and braver. I have noticed that even some of the smaller troops are becoming more arrogant and aggressive. They are adapting to the environment, monkeys treat it as survival of the fittest. The problems won’t just go away until all avenues of the problem are addressed. [shortened]

Ndumiso Mazibuko – The issue of monkey aggression and nuisance in our community highlights a broader problem: Inadequate food waste management. Rather than solely addressing the symptoms, we need to tackle the root cause. By implementing effective waste management solutions like Bokashi drums, which enable responsible composting, we can reduce the attractiveness of our environment to monkeys and mitigate potential conflicts. It’s time for our community to take ownership of our waste management practices and work towards sustainable solutions.

Nici Bodart Brockwell – Put food away, don’t walk and eat. And don’t fear monkeys. Definitely don’t hurt them.

Susan Friedman van Niekerk – Monkeys feed themselves. If they find food inside they remember to visit the place again. People need to be made aware before moving into the monkey’s areas that wildlife inhabits those areas.

Terry Antrobus-Claassens – Stop taking their living space away with development. Leave a natural corridor and food that they normally would eat in the natural environment.

Jacqui Cretney – People forget that the monkeys were there long before you humans! It is extremely unfair that we have moved into their territory and not the other way around. Start educating your children from a very young age about monkeys, habits etc so they don’t grow up fearing these poor animals.

Hamida Atib Osman – A lot of people are sharing the same story of not feeding them but they going around opening bin packets and entering our houses on their own. They becoming more aggressive and are not even scared to attack. The kids in school are also scared of them and are unable to have their lunch in peace.

Aimeé Melissa Tschirpig – I don’t feed them and they have literally broken glass out of windows to get into our home. Very frustrating having to clean the entire house because 14 monkeys blew through it.

Janet Macgregor Naude – I think that people should learn about monkey behaviour and their history. Some people seem to have very low EQ and have very little empathy. So while one family happily co-exists with the vervets, their neighbours may hate, even harm them. Monkeys have lived in this area forever and each troop has its own territory. Females never leave their ancestral territory, so this is a huge problem for the vervets. A monkey has no concept of stealing. Learn monkey behaviour. Teach your children. Remain calm around monkeys. Don’t scream and shout, run or flap your hands at them. Get a spray bottle, fill with water and spray them if they try to enter your home. Put monkey bars on the windows. There are many ways to manage. But most of all, I would suggest that we all learn to know, understand and enjoy these comical little grey creatures who are just trying to survive in a very unfriendly world. [shortened]

Naomi van der Merwe – People must stop engaging with them, stop putting food out for them, perhaps they will then get the message to stay away. I just ignore them and they eventually just go to the next house and most of the times they just passing through.

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