เว็บไซต์คืออะไร?

https://www.facebook.com/106326715720326/

Lanta Monkey Project

Lanta Monkey Project is working to restore balance between monkeys and humans on Koh Lanta, Thailand.

08/01/2025

🙈 “STOP FEEDING THE MONKEYS”
• Villagers in Nua Khlong complain about invasion

More and more places in Thailand are reporting invasions of crab-eating macaques. Now, villagers in the Nua Khlong district of Krabi are urging authorities to address the macaques that have left their mangrove forest habitat to forage for food in villages and along the beaches.

Residents of Nua Khlong complain that the monkeys are causing problems by rummaging through garbage bins in search of food, spreading trash in the environment, destroying vegetable and fruit crops, invading food shops, and damaging roof tiles. Villagers are also concerned that the monkeys may scare away tourists and harm Krabi’s reputation.

Suwat Suksiri, head of the Thung Talay Non-Hunting Zone on Koh Lanta, which collaborates with the Lanta Monkey Project, explained on PBS TV that there are simply too many monkeys and sterilization programs are essential. He also appealed to everyone to stop feeding the monkeys.

Koh Lanta, which faces the same problem, has had a sterilization program in place for four years. However, as both Phuket and Lopburi have previously experienced, sterilization alone is not enough. Additional measures need to be implemented, and the program is currently on pause.

The monkeys are a protected species. Only authorized rangers and veterinarians are allowed to capture and sterilize them. However, there is a shortage of wildlife veterinarians qualified for sterilization, and a growing list of districts needing their help.

Authorities on Lanta and the Lanta Monkey Project are discussing additional measures to take. The Lanta Monkey Project, led by myself and Jay Seng, has submitted a proposal currently being reviewed by local authorities.

In the meantime, the problem continues to grow in the hills. Farming on Lanta has practically been devastated by the macaques.

Many other areas are likely to face the same dilemma as Thailand encouraged citizens to grow fruits and vegetables during the pandemic by offering tax reductions on cultivated land.

08/08/2024

🙈 STÄMMER NATIONALPARKERNA
Invånare i Boryang-distriktet i Songkhla stämmer Departement of National Parks för vårdslöshet. De hävdar att departementet har misslyckades med att hindra apor från från att trakassera och attackera bybor.

Som svar har National Parks begärt medling. Myndigheten har också inlett en kampanj för att fånga och sterilisera cirka 100-300 alfaapor, och implementera Lopburi-modellen.

Tjänstemän har registrerat 1 500 apor i området, men byborna hävdar att de är närmare 5 000.

Saken ska upp i förvaltningsrätten den 25 september.

Foton från Thailands nationalparker

05/06/2024

🐒Somewhere in Thailand. Could be here on Lanta …

24/05/2024

MONKEY PROJECT IN LOPBURI

Lanta Monkey Project is closely watching what is happening in Lopburi, the city with the most serious case of overpopulation of crab maquaqes in Thailand.

As a new round of macaque captures is underway, Lop Buri province is looking to setup a new tourist attraction, to be called “Muang Pipob Vanorn” (or macaque city), to help re-organise and clean up the central district.

The mayor, Chamroen Slacheep, said that Lop Buri has faced a significant increase in the macaque population over the last 7-8 years.

This over-population is forcing the macaques out of their natural habitats, to forage for food near human dwellings. Now they occupy buildings all over town, he added.

The new monkey habitat project is the result of co-operation between the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and Lop Buri province.

The aims are to capture and relocate the monkeys to a better habitat, clean up Lop Buri town centre to revive tourism and the local economy and to allow the monkeys and people to live in harmony.

With a budget of 26.5 million baht, the plan is to add about 6,400 square metres to the existing 28,000-square-metre enclosure in the Pho Kao Ton monkey park, which will be able to accommodate up to 4,000 monkeys.

When the budget is approved, the project is expected to take about a year to complete. Meanwhile, the authorities are focusing on capturing about 1,000 macaque alphas and trouble makers.

According to Lop Buri’s mayor, the Pho Kao Ton monkey enclosure will eventually become an educational centre, where people can learn about macaques.

“After the monkeys are captured and relocated, there will be a big clean up in Lop Buri, to help bring tourism back,” he added.

Padej Laithong, director of the Wildlife Conservation Office, said that there is a framework in place with regards to the future of Lop Buri macaques. Local residents are also being consulted on the project to relocate the monkeys to Kao Som Phot sanctuary.

A large-scale operation to catch the monkeys living in the city and climbing the buildings began this morning. The operation is closely followed by many thai and foreign media outlets.

More than 30 monkeys got trapped this morning, but its difficult to trap large numbers of monkeys so they didnt meet the target numbers.

The crab maqaues are intelligent and don't fall into traps easily. Especially not the Lopburi monkeys since they are adapted to citylife and humans and learn quickly.

The monkeys take turns to enter the cage with the bait, 1-2 at a time. The first ones are usually scouts, checking out if its safe to enter or not. When the scouts get trapped, the rest of the troop will stay away. Thats why its difficuot to get more than 1-2 at the same time.

The first morning the officers were able to capture 33 monkeys. The target number is to catch 200-300 monkeys until May 28th.

The monkeys will be moved to a field hospital inside the monkey nursery at Pho Kao Ton Subdistrict, Mueang District in Lop Buri province.

They are screened for diseases and sterilized. They recuperate in the field hospital for one night before beeing released into Bodhi Kao Ton Monkey Park together with 27 monkeys that were captured last week.

The success of the project in Lopburi will determine the next step for Lanta Monkey project.

02/03/2024

🐒LANTA MONKEY PROJECT:
- New knowledge gives new methods

Recently, several cities in Thailand have taken a more serious approach to the problem of too many crab macaques. Through research, new knowledge has been gained about the behavior of the monkeys. Knowledge that provides additional tools.

Experience from several locations also shows that sterilization alone does not help quickly enough. It is also costly.

Therefore, the Lanta Monkey Project has decided to take a bigger approach to the issue together with local authorities and the province.

None of the other measures discussed involve harming the monkeys. On the contrary, the measures could also lead to a better quality of life for them.

The Lanta Monkey Project has been sterilizing monkeys on Lanta since 2021. Sterilizing is a smaller procedure than neutering, which is done on pets. The monkeys retain their behavior as wild animals.

▪️Facts:
Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia have a growing problem with too many crab macaques.

Many tourist resorts find it particularly difficult to strike a balance between monkey and human. The macaques' habitat is shrinking, while tourists' bananas and food waste provide the monkeys with food and attract them to homes.

18/05/2023

🐒WARNING NATIONAL PARKS:
- Do not bring food, risk of robbery

Thailand's national parks are warning visitors that there is a risk of violence and robbery. But the threat is not from other visitors but from the crab maqaques.

Troops of monkeys often hang around tourists are because they often feed them.

- This kid just robbed a cold drink right out of the hands of a tourist, writes an official on the parks' page.

- The monkeys may look cute, but the situation can quickly become dangerous. You should not feed these animals. Whoever brings food and drink into the park must be careful. There is a risk of being robbed.

18/04/2023

🐒 LOCALS OPINION:
- How cute are the crab macaques?
If you ask the locals on Lanta, they propably shake their heads. The young monkeys maybe, but the big males with fangs ...

The crab macaques on Lanta are like big gangs of thugs who destroy boats and houses, steal food, spread garbage and eat crops.

In fact, it is more common to be mugged by monkeys than by humans. They steal clothes and bags from bathing tourists. Food from markets and farms. They even threaten customers to give them their grocery bags outside grocery stores.

The macaques have lost respect for humans and that is something both residents and tourists have experienced.

▪️This is how a tourist describe a close encounter:

"Today we were down at Bamboo beach and were attacked for no reason whatsoever. We were going to pick up our mopeds which were parked in the shade behind a hotel and a monkey jumps on one of our scooters, flaps his hands, snarls and shows his teeth.

Luckily a young Frenchman came and helped us keep the monkey away for a while.

Finally the monkey gave up and sat further away in a tree. I can say that I have never been so scared and neither has my mother, I think.”

A word of advice to all of you: DO NOT feed the animals, please! And don't try to approach or pet them. They might become aggressive.

I am so thankful that we got help and that none of us got hurt.”

▪️The problem with the monkeys started when there were more tourists 20 years ago, says Ris Sittimon, Tung Yee Peng's village leader.

More residential buildings and resorts mean that there is less jungle for the monkeys. Humans and crab macaques also compete for fish, crabs and shrimp. Foid from humans is also more easy accessibke than finding it yourself.

Therefore, the macaques seek people and their houses. Tourists lure with bananas and garbage bins are a fat prey. The result is too much close contact with people. They are no longer afraid of us and become aggressive.

Khun Haek Lidi's small house is on the mountainside on the outskirts of the village Tung Yee Peng. 76-year-old Haek was born here, although back then there was no road, only buffalo trails.

In the last four or five years, it has gotten increasingly worse, says Haek. Those who live on the mountain side have given up all thoughts of farming.

- It's no use, the monkeys around the village have become too many, they eat everything. Look there, Khun Haek says, pointing to a grassy piece of land.

- There used to be full of banana plants, now it's just grass.

The villagers often discuss different methods to scare them away.

- We don't want to kill them, it's also illegal. We've tried everything. Now we don't know what to do, says Haek.

18/04/2023

🐒 CUTE LANGURS ON LANTA
Lantas most common monkey is the cheeky crabeating macaque. You can see them almost everywhere, raiding garbage bins or trying to get food from tourists.

But Lanta also have a small population of the cute and friendly langur. If you are lucky, you might see a glimpse of them in our national park down south.

The Spectacled Langur are often seen in treetops in early mornings or late afternoons feasting on fresh leaves and fruit.

As always, do not get too close, observe from a distance. And most important - do not feed them. They get sick from human foods and also stop trying to find their natural foods.

Monkeys should actually not eat bananas at all. Our modern very sweet banana varieties give them diabetes.

04/04/2023

✅ OUR NEXT STEP
Lanta Monkey Projects latest sterilization was in february 2023. The next will hopefully be in september. The information campaign to tourists not to feed has been postponed to next season, after the monsoon.

The vets and rangers will catch and sterilize a set number of monkeys two to three times a year. Lanta Monkey Project would like to go faster, but it is not possible.

Only vets specialized in wild life animals are allowed by law to sterilize wild animals. Our vets are from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Protection.

Only rangers specialized in wild life are allowed by law to catch them. This is a good thing since wild maqaques are smuggled to other countries in the region. Our rangers are from the national Thung Thale Forest Conservation and Rehabilitation Project, situated on Koh Klang, in Lanta District.

The crab maqaques are very clever and have an excellent memory. They remember us, they can even remember the rangers faces. If we try to go faster, they will not only be very stressed out, they will also keep as far away from the rangers as possible.

To try to catch and sterilize more often will in the end not make the project succeed any faster. So we have to accept this pace and focus on being sustainable in the long run.

🐒THIS IS LANTA MONKEY PROJECT
Lanta Monkey Project is funded by the Swedish Facebook-group We Love Koh Lanta, the expat community, the resorts and home owners on Lanta.

This is the project in short:
* Sterilization of monkeys to get balance.
* Information of tourists not to feed.
* Lobbying toward thai decision makers.

We cooperate with the national Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Protection, Thung Thale Forest Conservation and Rehabilitation Project and Lanta District and Nai Amphoe.

If you would like to support the project you can contact the project managers

Kim Wadström, 093-360 4103, [email protected]
Jay Saeng, 081-535-9779

Picture: Some of our fantastic vets and rangers.

18/02/2023

🐒 THIS IS LANTA MONKEY PROJECT
The island Koh Lanta in the south of Thailand has too many monkeys! This is clear to everyone. The monkeys do not only live around the national park but also on the beachside of Klong Dao and Longbeach. They are starving, without their natural respect for humans and becoming more aggressive by the day.

Lanta Monkey Project started in the spring of 2021. The founders Kim Wadström and Jay Saeng both had large groups of monkeys in their vicinity. Kim Wadström around her residence where she had to fight with the leader of 100 monkeys to be able to stay outside in her garden.

Jay Saeng at his eco fruit farm in Tung Yee Peng. The monkeys around his farm ate all his fruits and plants, he spent all his days chasing monkeys, not being able to farm.

Lanta Monkey Project started with research and the question ”How big is this problem on Lanta?”. We were overwhelmed by stories from all over the island, from villas and resort owners to farmers and fruit vendors. The monkeys even steal burgers inside restaurants on the beach side.

We also looked at the situation elsewhere and discovered that monkeys are a problem all over Thailand and in many other parts of the world.

Lanta Monkey Project successfully established a collaboration with the national Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Protection already in the spring 2021.

The collaboration began with an inventory of the number of monkeys on the island. It showed that Lanta in the summer of 2021, had about 5,000 monkeys. Since then, they have spread to almost all parts of the island and are now also on the beachside among villas and schools.

While the monkeys increase in numbers, their natural habitat is shrinking. The forest is cut down to give room for new buildings on the mountainside and rubber and palm oil plantations. This gives the monkeys less forest to move freely in at the same time as the number of monkeys increases. We are heading towards a situation that eventually will threaten tourism and people's livelihood aswell as the wellbeing of the monkeys.

Only sterilization or protective hunting can restore balance. Many other countries have chosen the latter option when the monkeys become so many that sterilization is no longer possible. Protective hunting is currently not an option for Buddhists in Thailand. Monkeys are a protected specie by law. Lanta Project therefore will do what is possible here and now.

The organization has prepared a program called the Lanta Model.

This is the Lanta Model in short:
* Sterilization
* Information
* Lobbying

🐒 Sterilize
Sterilization is a mild and humane intervention that does not change the personality and behavior of animals. It should be done as gentle as possible.

People may not know that it was through extensive sterilization that Lanta Animal Welfare managed to overcome the big packs of wild dogs and homeless cats that previously was a big challenge for Lanta. The Monkey Project intends to do the same with monkeys.

This is not a quick fix. It will take a few years, just like it did for Lanta Animal Welfare with cats and dogs.

One argument that we hear from time to time, is that it is pointless to sterilize monkeys since they are expected to live as long as 20 years. That is not true. Monkeys in captivity with lots of food can live for 20 years. But it is a tough life for monkeys in the wild, they only live for 7 to 8 years. It is therefore possible to restore the balance relatively fast.

Lanta Monkey Project began sterilization in november 2021. The veterinarians and ranger from Pattalung and Thung Thalay stay here for a week every time.

When we can see that the monkeys are not overpopulated and not suffering anymore, we will slow down the pace.

Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Protection contributes with veterinarians, animal technicians, and rangers. However, they have no budget for medical equipment and surgical material. That's why we need donors.

Up to now, the funds of the Swedish community in the Facebook group "We love Koh Lanta" has financed the Lanta Monkey Project. Now the project needs more resources. If many share the cost regularly, it is not costly for individuals, entrepreneurs, villages and home owners.

Now in february 2023 Lanta District and Nai Amphoe aswell as Thesaban Saladan supports the project.

Lanta Monkey Project hope to use veterinarians based in Lanta or Krabi in the future. That way we can sterilize more monkeys at a faster rate.

🐒🐒 Information
Sterilization is not enough. We humans also need to change our attitudes and our behavior.

Only the weakest monkey with low status will give away food to others. When we humans give a monkey a banana, he will only show us contempt and maybe also become aggressive if he does not get another banana.

Lanta's monkeys have no respect for us humans anymore. Normally they should stay away from us. But now its the opposite, and stay close to where we live. "If they are stupid enough to give away food, let’s go there", the monkeys might think.

Many tourists get involuntarily close contact on boat tours in the Mangroves and tours to the National Park. It’s up to us to stop this. The drivers want happy and satisfied tourists, so they let the boats come too close to the monkeys, take them on board and give the tourists fruit to feed them.

This is the story of Sofie, a tourist who got their boat invaded:

”Today we went to the Mangrove forest. We asked not to have monkeys on board. Our captain honored that request. However, a longtail next to ours threw bananas into the water and the monkeys jumped in and started to swim toward the bananas. When the other boat left, the monkeys came over to our boat. We had over 10 monkeys on board and I was honestly terrified since we had a baby and a 3-year-old with us.

The monkeys took our food and the baby's bottle. Both we and the driver had a difficult time getting away from them as more and more monkeys jumped up on the boat. Therefore, we want to warn: Be careful, do not feed the monkeys, and close your bags."

Events like this too often end with tourists getting scratched and bitten. You have to go to a medical doctor, but must also immediately take up to five costly rabies shots. And did you know that you can get TBC through the monkey's exhaled air?

The boat drivers don’t really want to deal with any Monkey Business on their boats. But as long as tourists like to get close with the monkeys, they will. The boat drivers must stop this immediatly.

Today, no one would even dream of riding an elephant or giving elephants in chains a banana. We should act the same when it comes to monkeys. No close contact and no food.

Lanta Monkey Project will soon launch its first major information campaign to inform tourists and tourist companies: Do not feed the monkeys.

Lanta will also have to change its waste management. Lanta District, the Thesabans and Thailand Environment Institute are working to get people to separate their trash.

With composts and duck farms they hope to get all food waste out of the garbage bins. With no food waste in the bins there is no reason for the monkeys to search for food around peoples homes. Lanta Monkey Project will support this food waste project in every way we can.

Another one of the Lanta Monkey Projects goals is to educate the locals about the monkeys, how they live, behave and how smart they are. We want to create jobs - Monkey Guides - that turn destructive monkey business into lucrative business. A Monkey Tour at a distance can become a tourist attraction here on Lanta.

🐒🐒🐒 Lobbying
It is time to start taking up a discussion in Thailand about other ways to recreate the balance between humans and nature. Should the macaques be protected if they become too many? If food is scarce and monkeys are starving, the people in the villages might take matters into their own hands through less humane methods - then it can be time to start making some tough decisions.

Lanta Monkey Project has therefore begun to lift the issue of the monkeys not being a protected species with politicians, authorities and the media.

Who owns the problem? The answer is simple: we all do!

The people in the villages must be able to grow food. Tourists should not have to be afraid. Homeowners should not have their homes invaded and broken down. Schools do not want monkeys chasing children. Animal lovers do not want to see the monkeys hurt. The tourist companies need the tourism industry and jobs. Lanta need the tourist industry.

The problem is everyone's and everyone needs to help out - to act. Lanta Monkey Project needs the sponsorship of private forces such as tourists, villas, and resort owners.

This is what we do:
* The wildlife rangers place the cages with bate where there are most macaques.
* Lanta Monkey Project catches and sterilizes monkeys across Koh Lanta.
* The Lanta Monkey Project has also built cages of its own, which we will place with those who sponsor the project.
* The rangers collect the cages and specialized trained wildlife veterinarians will sterilize the monkeys. The monkeys are also tested for diseases such as rabies and TB.

It will take about two years of hard work before we see a significant difference. The alternative - to do nothing - will only lead to yet bigger problems for us people and much greater suffering for the monkeys.