No more monkeying around

With monkeys costing fruit and vegetable farmers hundreds of dollars in losses annually, one agriculturalist is adamant that steps must be taken to reduce their impact.

Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society, James Paul, therefore suggested the creation of habitats along with controlled culling to put an end to the destruction caused by these animals.

Speaking to the media last Thursday, he said that the livelihood of several farmers, even in urban areas were being threatened and while persons were employing various methods to protect their crops, the primates were finding ways to get around these.

“We can find habitats around Barbados where we can have them there, but do not let them come out,” he said.

In addition, he insisted that “we cannot get away from the fact that some culling would have to take place,” as “if we allow them to breed, soon from now we will not be able to grow anything”.
Paul noted that when he made the suggestion of culling a few years ago, there had been backlash from persons who insisted that as a tourism destination, the island should protect what could be considered as attractions.

“The fact of the matter is that we have to have some balance. We cannot say to some people to go into agriculture and at the same time you have monkeys marauding through this country destroying crops!… We need to stop running from the problem and face up to the issue as to how we can deal with the monkey problem here. I am not suggesting that we get rid of them, because if they are a tourist attraction that is fine and well, but what is strange enough is that in the UK where we get a lot of our visitors from, they accept the fact that in some ways you must control the population of these animals,” he stressed. (JMB)