Feb 18 - Monkey Initiative Launched in Attempt to Drive Macaques Back up the Rock
Following recent complaints by locals, regarding the increasing number of Barbary Macaques within Estates and urbanised areas, the Department of the Environment, along with the RGP, Gibraltar Veterinary Clinic and GONHS has launched a new initiative aimed at focusing awareness on the consequences of feeding the monkeys.
The ‘Get our monkeys back to nature’ initiative hopes to encourage the public to cooperate in a concerted drive to draw monkeys back into living on wild food. The scheme will see leaflets distributed, warning individuals on how to act around the animals and why they are urged not to feed them.
Signs are also being placed in a number of problematic areas. Increased patrolling by Police also forms part of the new initiative centred on the wider Barbary Macaque Management plan. The plan, which builds on expert advice provided by local and renowned international experts alike, is being finalised by the Department of the Environment and includes a range of measures that will shortly be announced by the Government.
Actions already being implemented are the placing of self-closing doors in bin enclosures in Laguna Estate and the monkey-proofing of bins in the area of the Gibraltar College. The public is asked to ensure that monkeys are not fed and that rubbish is put out at the correct times in closed enclosures.
Commenting on the initiative, Environment Minister Dr. Cortes insisted that the whole community is aware of the concerns that people have with the longstanding problem of monkeys in built up areas. He added, ‘many measures are being prepared, but public co-operation and understanding of the situation is crucial. We need the community to ensure 100% compliance with the law so that monkeys get no food in built up areas’.
