Khao Chi Chan residents again were urged not to feed local monkeys and take care when driving after another animal was found dead in the road.
The monkey, about five years old, was found in the middle of the twisting road near Big Buddha Mountain in Najomtien. Weighing about 10 kilograms and 60 centimeters long, it was apparently crushed by a car. It had been dead for several hours.
Surasak Anumetanfkul, head of the Forest Training Department, said that there are approximately 1,000 monkeys in the area. They reside in between HM the King’s Forest Reserve and the no-hunting area of Khao Chi-on.
Forest officials installed a metal bar crossing the road at about six meters high for monkeys to use. There were no problems and no reports about monkeys being hit by cars since, but the monkeys that are on the road are mostly pets released by local residents.
Pet monkeys don’t get along with wild ones and that’s why they are residing near the roads, and which is why they have a chance of getting hit by vehicles, he said.
“The reason why monkeys get into the habit and reside near the roads is because people often feed them, which changes them from feeding off natural vegetation,” he said. “I would like to kindly ask residents not to feed the monkeys and slow down if they see them near the road. And for people who have pet monkeys and don’t want them anymore, they should contact the Forestry Department and follow their suggestions.”
