Post by account_disabled on Feb 20, 2024 5:16:09 GMT -5
Some officials in Nepal are calling to emulate a Sri Lankan plan , now suspended, to export large numbers of rhesus macaques.
The problem monkeys are seen as pests by farmers whose crops they eat, and exporting them would solve this problem while generating foreign income, advocates say.
However, an earlier attempt to export a small number of macaques was scrapped on the grounds that it violated Nepalese laws and international wildlife trade rules.
Conservationists also say exporting the monkeys will not address the root causes of human-macaque conflicts, including a government forestry program that has seen the animals' preferred fruit trees replaced with non-native species.
As the crow of a rooster signals dawn in Taplejung, eastern Nepal, two men grab their slings and head to work. They know they have a long day ahead of them, protecting the orange trees from hungry problem monkeys roaming the forests.
These staff members at the orange research center in Taplejung are not alone in their fight. Throughout the central mountainous area of Nepal, thousands of farmers face the same problem: troops of rhesus macaques ( Macaca mulatta ), accustomed to human food, enter their fields, leaving behind a trail of destruction and exasperated farmers. .
“Sometimes we feel like we are farm C Level Executive List ing not for food, we are doing it for the monkeys,” says Ram Prasad Timsina from Pokhara. “They are not afraid to attack us if they find us alone.”
Fed up with problem monkeys, everyone from farmers to government officials at the municipal and national levels have long been looking for quick solutions to the problem. Then recent reports emerged from another South Asian country, Sri Lanka, which is also dealing with crop-raiding macaques. That country's agriculture minister announced the proposed export of , Toque macaques ( Macaca sinica ) to China in an attempt to “control their population.”
While the Colombo government said the monkeys would be sent to zoos in China, animal rights activists and environmentalists raised concerns that they would be used for medical research or killed for food. The proposal received a huge outcry from the public and media, and was eventually stopped by the government pending further investigation. The Chinese embassy in Sri Lanka also denied that the Chinese government was in any way involved in the proposal by a private Chinese company.
However, none of these last points seemed to merit much coverage in Nepal, where the media on the subject has focused on the millions of dollars Nepal could earn by exporting its own monkeys.
Dhanraj Gurung, a member of parliament for Nepal's Congress party, is among those calling for the country to start exporting monkeys to earn foreign revenue and address the pest problem. “The terror of the monkeys has spread in the villages,” he said in a speech in the House of Representatives. “Looking at the current economic situation, I think it is right to decide to export monkeys.”
He anticipated that the proposal would face criticism from foreign-funded environmental groups. “By saying this, I'm afraid the dollarists will shout about the ecosystem somewhere,” he said. He cited Sri Lanka's proposal, but did not mention that the decision there had been suspended.
Experts say exporting monkeys is not a simple or straightforward solution, as it involves legal, ethical and ecological considerations that must be carefully weighed.
Nepal is a signatory to CITES, the international treaty that regulates trade in endangered wildlife species. Rhesus monkeys are listed on Appendix II of CITES, which means their international trade is highly restricted. Nepal's National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act reflects this, prohibiting the export of wild animals and plants without government permission.
In , the Nepal Biodiversity Research Society, a private body, received a license from the government to establish a supply center for rhesus monkeys for research. He obtained of the animals from the government for million rupees in (about $ million at the exchange rate then) and sought to export offspring.
But animal rights activists and conservationists petitioned the Supreme Court to stop the export, claiming it violated Nepalese laws and CITES regulations. They also questioned the ethics and legality of using monkeys for laboratory experiments. The government eventually bowed to the protests and decided to revoke the company's license and release the monkeys into the wild.
In principle, exporting monkeys could be beneficial to both Nepal and recipient countries, if done properly and humanely, said primatologist Mukesh Kumar Chalise. He said there is great demand for monkeys for biomedical research in countries such as China, Japan, South Korea and the United States, where they are used to study treatments for diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis, malaria and tuberculosis.
But Chalise also said he believes sending the monkeys to other countries cannot be the only solution to the crop invasion problem.
“We need a holistic solution to the problem,” he said. “The first step would be to carry out studies at the national level and generate data. Once this is done, we need to come up with locally tailored plans, such as growing crops that monkeys don't like, identifying problem monkeys, and even growing fruit trees in the jungle for them to eat and survive.”
Instead of exporting "problematic" monkeys, he said, the government should build holding centers across Nepal, with laboratories to carry out important research locally.
Sabina Koirala, a conservationist, said that instead of looking for quick fixes to the chronic problem, Nepal should focus on addressing the root causes of human-wildlife conflict such as habitat loss, land use change , population growth and climate change.
The problem monkeys are seen as pests by farmers whose crops they eat, and exporting them would solve this problem while generating foreign income, advocates say.
However, an earlier attempt to export a small number of macaques was scrapped on the grounds that it violated Nepalese laws and international wildlife trade rules.
Conservationists also say exporting the monkeys will not address the root causes of human-macaque conflicts, including a government forestry program that has seen the animals' preferred fruit trees replaced with non-native species.
As the crow of a rooster signals dawn in Taplejung, eastern Nepal, two men grab their slings and head to work. They know they have a long day ahead of them, protecting the orange trees from hungry problem monkeys roaming the forests.
These staff members at the orange research center in Taplejung are not alone in their fight. Throughout the central mountainous area of Nepal, thousands of farmers face the same problem: troops of rhesus macaques ( Macaca mulatta ), accustomed to human food, enter their fields, leaving behind a trail of destruction and exasperated farmers. .
“Sometimes we feel like we are farm C Level Executive List ing not for food, we are doing it for the monkeys,” says Ram Prasad Timsina from Pokhara. “They are not afraid to attack us if they find us alone.”
Fed up with problem monkeys, everyone from farmers to government officials at the municipal and national levels have long been looking for quick solutions to the problem. Then recent reports emerged from another South Asian country, Sri Lanka, which is also dealing with crop-raiding macaques. That country's agriculture minister announced the proposed export of , Toque macaques ( Macaca sinica ) to China in an attempt to “control their population.”
While the Colombo government said the monkeys would be sent to zoos in China, animal rights activists and environmentalists raised concerns that they would be used for medical research or killed for food. The proposal received a huge outcry from the public and media, and was eventually stopped by the government pending further investigation. The Chinese embassy in Sri Lanka also denied that the Chinese government was in any way involved in the proposal by a private Chinese company.
However, none of these last points seemed to merit much coverage in Nepal, where the media on the subject has focused on the millions of dollars Nepal could earn by exporting its own monkeys.
Dhanraj Gurung, a member of parliament for Nepal's Congress party, is among those calling for the country to start exporting monkeys to earn foreign revenue and address the pest problem. “The terror of the monkeys has spread in the villages,” he said in a speech in the House of Representatives. “Looking at the current economic situation, I think it is right to decide to export monkeys.”
He anticipated that the proposal would face criticism from foreign-funded environmental groups. “By saying this, I'm afraid the dollarists will shout about the ecosystem somewhere,” he said. He cited Sri Lanka's proposal, but did not mention that the decision there had been suspended.
Experts say exporting monkeys is not a simple or straightforward solution, as it involves legal, ethical and ecological considerations that must be carefully weighed.
Nepal is a signatory to CITES, the international treaty that regulates trade in endangered wildlife species. Rhesus monkeys are listed on Appendix II of CITES, which means their international trade is highly restricted. Nepal's National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act reflects this, prohibiting the export of wild animals and plants without government permission.
In , the Nepal Biodiversity Research Society, a private body, received a license from the government to establish a supply center for rhesus monkeys for research. He obtained of the animals from the government for million rupees in (about $ million at the exchange rate then) and sought to export offspring.
But animal rights activists and conservationists petitioned the Supreme Court to stop the export, claiming it violated Nepalese laws and CITES regulations. They also questioned the ethics and legality of using monkeys for laboratory experiments. The government eventually bowed to the protests and decided to revoke the company's license and release the monkeys into the wild.
In principle, exporting monkeys could be beneficial to both Nepal and recipient countries, if done properly and humanely, said primatologist Mukesh Kumar Chalise. He said there is great demand for monkeys for biomedical research in countries such as China, Japan, South Korea and the United States, where they are used to study treatments for diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis, malaria and tuberculosis.
But Chalise also said he believes sending the monkeys to other countries cannot be the only solution to the crop invasion problem.
“We need a holistic solution to the problem,” he said. “The first step would be to carry out studies at the national level and generate data. Once this is done, we need to come up with locally tailored plans, such as growing crops that monkeys don't like, identifying problem monkeys, and even growing fruit trees in the jungle for them to eat and survive.”
Instead of exporting "problematic" monkeys, he said, the government should build holding centers across Nepal, with laboratories to carry out important research locally.
Sabina Koirala, a conservationist, said that instead of looking for quick fixes to the chronic problem, Nepal should focus on addressing the root causes of human-wildlife conflict such as habitat loss, land use change , population growth and climate change.