The large number of monkeys in various tourist spots of Taif Governorate
is both a menace and a delight, depending on which side of the divide
you are in. For the residents, they are a menace and for the tourists,
they are an attraction. However, following complaints from the residents, wildlife research
centers in the governorate, in coordination with the Ministry of
Municipal and Rural Affairs, are working toward decreasing the number of
monkeys in Al-Hada province.
Dr. Ahmad Al-Bouq, director of a research center in Taif, said a
workshop will be held in Riyadh to solve the problem of domesticated
monkeys in Taif. Solutions will be worked out in coordination with the
Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs. Stating that efforts were already under way to reduce the number of
monkeys, he said it had become necessary to take steps because their
numbers were too large for their natural habitats to accommodate them,
besides causing several problems for residential areas and on the roads.
Specialists believe that visitors to the area contributed to the
increasing number of monkeys by giving them food, while others say
monkeys are an important attraction for visitors to Al-Hada, Al-Shafa,
Al-Redf and other tourist areas. Dr. Al-Bouq said work on behavioral and environmental studies was still
under way to find solutions for domestication. Al-Ribah monkeys that
live in Al-Hada are similar to monkeys that live in East Africa and
Yemen, he said, adding that a large number of domesticated monkeys live
in Al-Taif next to roads, while other monkeys survive by attacking
agricultural areas. Some had also spread in the outskirts of cities
causing many problems to the municipality and residential areas in the
vicinity. Studies conducted earlier focused on environmental and behavioral
aspects to find ways that are acceptable internationally and
scientifically to limit the phenomenon of domestication, he said, adding
that using these monkeys for scientific research was left to research
centers.
Courtesy : Arab News
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