By KHT Staff. Image via FTV.
KAOHSIUNG — National Sun Yat-sen University (國立中山大學) has placed cage traps around its campus following repeated incidents in which Taiwan macaques grabbed food from students and damaged property.
The university sits beside Chaishan (柴山), part of the monkeys’ natural range, and encounters between students and macaques have been a longstanding problem. The school said it began using the traps after consulting the Kaohsiung City Agriculture Bureau (高雄市政府農業局).
Photographs of the traps circulated online this week, prompting questions about what would happen to captured animals.
The Kaohsiung City Animal Protection Office (高雄市動物保護處) said captured macaques would first be taken to the medical center at Shoushan Zoo (高雄市立壽山動物園). Veterinarians and other specialists will examine the animals and assess their health.
Adult macaques capable of reproducing will be sterilized before Agriculture Bureau personnel release them in remote mountain areas elsewhere in Kaohsiung, according to a China Times report. Juveniles will be returned to their original habitat and troop.
A macaque caught at the university on Sunday was released on site because it was under two years old, Public Television Service reported. Zoo officials said captured animals may also receive identification microchips during their examinations.
However, a wildlife advocacy group warned that trapping alone would not prevent further incidents.
Lin Mei-yin (林美吟), secretary-general of the Taiwan Macaque Coexistence Promotion Association (台灣獼猴共存推廣協會), said monkeys would continue entering the campus as long as food remained easily accessible. She called for clearer rules limiting exposed food and outdoor eating in areas frequented by macaques.
The university has reminded students and staff not to feed the animals and to keep food out of sight. Similar measures have been promoted around Chaishan, where feeding by visitors has contributed to some macaques becoming accustomed to approaching people.
Residents, businesses and schools experiencing repeated macaque disturbances may apply to borrow cage traps from the Agriculture Bureau, the Animal Protection Office said.
