DEAR Editor,-
The continual heated controversy of monkeys will always be a problem. Eighteen years ago I was delighted with the wildlife in my garden of two adjoining stands. One was completely undeveloped so I built ponds and pathways with dense vegetation so that the birds and creatures could continue to be safe and hidden from danger.
Monkeys have ended up making my life a misery. The tall trees were a delight to them, raiding the birds’ nests and destroying fruit by taking one bite and discarding the rest. My genet, owls and fruit bats have gone to quieter and safer places. When moving in the morning, monkeys use my driveway, gates and paving as a toilet.
I have parrots that can’t be placed outside and windows that can’t be opened. They have overturned and damaged large, heavy birdbaths used as seed feeders and use my roof as a passage to the next property, cracking roof tiles as they jump onto it from the trees.
Sometimes they linger for three hours and I have to call my dog away because she barks constantly trying to chase them away. I can honestly say the small amount of affection I felt for the monkeys was completely destroyed recently.
A purple-crested lourie nested in the dense bougainvillea above my driveway recently and when I found the broken, empty egg, I was so excited knowing it had hatched and seeing the mother returning to feed it.
Well, a week later I heard a noise and found the fledgling lying on the bricks, its throat torn out and a monkey in the nest area. It’s not only that monkeys have been here long before us, they too are responsible for contributing to the loss of other species.
J COOK
