Macaque monkey sterilisation programme starts in Hua Hin

To control the large macaque monkey population in the resort town Hua Hin, where the monkeys tend to break into homes and bother residents, local officials plan to sterilise around 600 monkeys.

The 1.1 million baht programme takes place each year and started back in 2017 by way of a memorandum of cooperation between the municipality and the Conservation Administration Office 3 of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, says Hua Hin Municipality mayor Nopporn Wuthikul.

The goal is to sterilise 600 of the estimated 3,000 macaques, or 20% of the area’s macaque population. According to Thai media, the macaques will break into houses and damage them as well as bothering residents in the Khao Hin Lek Fai community and visitors to the nearby monkey park.

Nopporn says since the programme started, thousands of the macaques, male and female, have been captured, sterilised, and then released. Despite all the sterilising efforts, the macaque population has reportedly managed to thrive year after year.

Nopporn adds that every macaque that is sterilised is marked before being released. He did not explain how they were marked.

Macaques tend to produce 1 baby a year that is raised by their mother in a matriarchal society. They live in a sexually promiscuous troop.

SOURCES: Bangkok Post | National Geographic