FREEDOM OF SPEECH is a wonderful thing. We should cherish it since it allows us to speak openly, posit different viewpoints and agree to disagree.
Take the case of Minister of the Environment Dr Denis Lowe, who is concerned about the local monkey population and wants an end to the bounty on their tails.
Like farmer Ian Webster (below), and a number of other food crop growers, I do not share Dr Lowe’s position on this matter of the monkeys.
I honestly feel there is need to cull the monkey population.
I accept that there is curiosity about these animals, so little wonder taxi drivers take tourists down to the upscale Sandy Lane to see them in their natural habit, even watching a chap with small tethered animals monkeying around.
Yes, this year is a big one for the monkey internationally, as it is holding centre stage in China. It is the Year of the Monkey there.
In India, home to the world’s largest number of monkeys, there is also a monkey god, Hanuman. This god is the central character of one of that country’s mythological stories and part of its everyday cultural narrative.
Internationally, clever monkeys are often used to bring entertainment to various events.
I realize the important role the Barbados green monkey has played in medical research. I remember Jean Baulu, a Canadian primatologist who founded the Barbados Primate Research Centre in St Peter, where he sold the animals overseas in the effort to eradicate polio. They proved to be a productive source of the vaccine to curb that terrible disease that crippled so many children worldwide.
So even today they can be found in large numbers down at the Barbados Wildlife Reserve in St Peter, free to roam the wooded areas there.
I believe that is where they belong, as well as in the gullies, and what’s left of the wooded areas across the island.
There was a time when many Barbadians saw monkeys only when they visited Queen’s Park, but that was when that facility had a few exotic animals and was a place to visit and relax. As a child growing up in St George near wooded areas and lands full of fruit trees, particularly guavas and mangoes, golden and mammy apples, pears, paw paws, as well as extensive kitchen gardens, I never once saw a monkey there.
Now monkeys are all over the place, maybe still in Queen’s Park but certainly not in a cage for people to watch in amazement.
If you live in parts of Paradise Heights, West Terrace and Wanstead you will see monkeys often, perhaps daily, sometimes on mornings, throughout the day and even in the evenings.
Residents in these St Michael and St James districts can tell you about how brazen these wildlife creatures have become. So while many people living in these areas may be inclined to do some small-scale backyard farming, they will have to be prepared to share 50/50 or more with the monkeys.
I understand Dr Lowe is desirous of having a new study done of the green monkey. But, before he starts the project he should speak to two fellow parliamentarians. Former Prime Minister and Member for St Peter, Owen Arthur, who sits in the Lower House with Dr Lowe can enlighten him on the monkeys and their behaviour and mannerisms. He would be able to say what impact they have had on his small kitchen garden.
He should also speak to Senator Alwyn Adams from the Upper House and get his first-hand report on these animals and the efforts to salvage a few mangoes from their marauding efforts to clean the trees of the fruit – and frequent destruction of most of what they don’t eat. Senator Adams can tell Dr Lowe about the technique of wrapping newspaper around the mangoes so as to get a few of the fruits, and that is provided the tree isn’t too tall.
What anyone in the mentioned residential districts can tell Dr Lowe so he won’t need any researcher to go into the field to find out, is that the monkey population simply exploded from the time the up-in-the-air project at Paradise Beach (a.k.a. Four Season Hotel and Residences) started.
It seems as if there was a monkey homestead in the wooded area there and they simply migrated to the gully going up the hill. Then the expansion Sir Hilary Beckles undertook at parts of Cave Hill, particularly towards either side of the bottom of University Hill, also disrupted their habitat. So they flocked to the nearest gully, again by Paradise Heights.
Once there would be three or four or maybe five or six of them foraging for food. So, the mangoes, soursop, plums and golden apple trees were their target. Some are now even eating the breadfruits, which were not a regular source of food for them up to ten years ago. Since the Paradise Beach disruption, the numbers have swelled. So for those returning from an early morning walk, a dozen of them are no longer an uncommon sight; they can be seen scampering across roofs or gingerly walking on the utility wires and really just getting out of your way with little concern for humans.
While these monkeys keep their distance for the time being, conflict is inevitable. Not only the farmers, and the people in Paradise Heights, Wanstead or West Terrace, but all across Barbados, man and monkeys will not share the same space in peace. These primates already do not seem to be worried about the presence of women. Be assured something will have to give.
The monkey population will hardly ever be wiped out and they may very well play a critical role in helping the environment. But they must not be allowed to become a nuisance on the landscape.
I hope Dr Lowe will meet with Dr Karl Watson, the biologists at Cave Hill and the people at the Wildlife Reserve. But he should also listen to the farmers, big and small, and also hear from the many householders islandwide on how they feel about this matter.
I am convinced the monkeys belong in the gullies and we must cull some of them. (ES)