Naive to expect people to retreat

EDITOR – Your article in the 13 September edition although touching and well informed,was a touch one-sided in views.

Although I personally could not bring myself to intentionally injure a vervet monkey, I find it insulting and completely unreasonable of you or anybody else to suggest that we must be held hostage in our homes and indeed drag our pets inside whenever there are monkeys in the yard. We live in a very bushy part of Island View and each day are descended upon by troops of monkeys who ransack the garbage, steal food out of our kitchen cupboards and incredibly, even right out of my children's hands.

To say, and indeed even to think that people are just going to retreat in fear into their homes everytime they see monkeys coming is, to say the least, a bit naïve and unrealistic. Instead I feel you would gain more success if you encouraged a more non-violent action towards the monkey problem, like rubber snakes, moving garden fixtures and noise-making devices such as horns, whistles and sirens (not fireworks). People are more likely to try these than to cease efforts to rid their yards of the monkey problem,with the obvious exception of those unfortunate to have been bitten or have their kids bitten by these pests,which in my experience is not pleasant nor forgettable.

RHONEN HEALEY