Johor Perhilitan: Every district will have one to deal with increasing complaints

Johor Perhilitan personnel capturing monkeys during an operation in Kluang.

JOHOR BARU: The Johor Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) has set up a special team to handle the monkeys in the state.

Its director Salman Saaban said this was due to the high number of complaints the department had received over the presence of monkeys in residential areas.

“We receive an average of one call a day from the public about monkeys being a nuisance.

“Perhilitan has come up with a special team in each district in the state to handle problems caused by monkeys, ” he said here.Salman added that the teams would capture and cull the monkeys to control their population.

“We cannot relocate the monkeys we capture to another area as they will breed and cause problems for the people living in the new location, ” he said.

Salman pointed out that the majority of complaints were about monkeys entering houses to look for food.

He said, however, that despite the high number of monkey problems in the state, Perhilitan has yet to receive any complaint of monkeys attacking people.

“The monkeys enter houses in search of food and sometimes run off with pets like kittens, ” he said.

Salman said the public must be more alert and take preventive measures so that the monkeys cannot enter their homes.

He said those living near forest areas, especially, should exercise more care.

“Always keep the windows and doors closed. People should also make sure their homes are clean and rubbish bins tightly closed as otherwise, the monkeys will come to rummage for food here, ” said Salman.