Without tourists the food runs out: Hungry macaques are a problem in Bali. The park management calls for donations. Otherwise the monkeys’ good mood could be over quickly.
Denpasar – Because of Corona, the tourists stay out of Bali – and with it the food for hundreds of monkeys in the Sangeh Monkey Forest in the center of the popular Indonesian island.
Hungry macaques are increasingly raiding houses in the area to find food, said park manager Made Mohon on Monday of the German press agency.
Holidaymakers had previously regularly distributed large quantities of bananas and peanuts to the tame long-tailed macaques (also known as long-tailed macaques). In doing so, they also attracted the primates for photos: in return for a snack, the animals are only too happy to pose on the guests’ shoulders or in the lap of the guests. “The park staff still give the monkeys bananas and cassava, but they obviously want snacks from tourists,” Mohon said.
The monkeys have occasionally entered houses in the past, but since the beginning of the corona pandemic and the closure of the tourist attraction, the “break-ins” have increased. Mohon called on people to donate: It costs around 500,000 Indonesian rupees (30 euros) a day to feed the 600 macaques.
He also appealed to the authorities to allow at least a limited number of visitors back into the 14 hectare forest. “We fear that the monkeys will become aggressive if they do not interact with humans for a long time.” Residents from Uluwatu in the very south of Bali also reported attacks by macaques on houses.
In the world’s largest island nation, Indonesia, the important tourism sector has been completely ruined because of the pandemic. Most recently, the main island of Java and the world-famous holiday island of Bali had to struggle with heavy corona waves due to the spread of the delta variant. The lockdown is slowly loosened again. dpa
