Sailors at Sattahip naval base are fighting a losing battle to prevent hundreds of wild monkeys from ransacking their living quarters and begging for food off-base in nearby streets, a senior naval officer said yesterday.
Local government agencies in Sattahip are desperately looking for ways to control a rapidly growing population of long-tailed macaques living on the naval base and nearby areas.
"We must find a way to live with them in harmony. We can't control them. We can't kill them. We must learn to prevent them from stealing our food," Vice Admiral Tanakarn Kraikruan, commandant of the Royal Thai Marine Corps told the Bangkok Post by phone.
Despite signs telling tourists not to give food to the crab-eating macaques, the primates are often fed by tourists visiting Laem Pu Chao Hill and it has become the monkeys' habit to stop and surround vehicles for food, Vice Adm Tanakarn said.
Tambon municipality officials are looking for funds to neuter the monkeys like livestock officials in other provinces have successfully done with animals such as dogs, but the vice admiral doubted if it would work. "Monkeys aren't dogs. They are not easy to catch. You can't just walk up to them or shoot them with a tranquiliser and neuter them," he said.
The crab-eating macaque, also known as the long-tailed macaque, is a cercopithecine primate native to Southeast Asia.