Monkey Business

Seven or eight years ago Huang, a bird shop owner, suddenly got a thing for monkeys. Traversing much of eastern Taiwan, he bought more than 30 of them. Then he took them home and put them in his "Monkey Garden." Nothing like the one described in Journey to the West--where the monkeys would climb the trees and swing from the branches, plucking flowers and devouring fruit on Flower Fruit Mountain--this 14,400 square-foot space serves as their home. Here they nest in iron drums, finding mates in the caged space around them and quickly multiplying. They now total more than 140.

When Huang Han-fu was collecting monkeys, the biology department at Taiwan National Normal University was making an investigation of stores selling Taiwan mountain wildlife, discovering that Taiwan residents purchase more than 3500 Formosan Rock Monkeys a year. And stories often circulate of people eating monkey brain.

In 1989 the Wildlife Conservation Law was passed. Besides being concerned about Taiwan's image, the Council of Agriculture, which is responsible for ecological preservation work, is even more worried that the mountains are being scarred by ever-larger development projects, which are destroying the habitat of wild animals. It is feared that this destruction of habitat, combined with the Chinese belief that monkey brain is especially fortifying in the winter, will make the Formosan Rock Monkey an endangered species. To save it from extinction, it was put on the protected species list and hunting of it was prohibited.

Huang Han-fu leads his Formosan rock monkeys out on the street, asking the county government to permit him to sell them, （photo courtesy of hungpi-chen）

Monkeys starving to death?

Although Huang Han-fu's monkeys eat only fruit and sweet potatoes, at several thousand NT a day the cost is hard for him to bear. Although he secretly sells young monkeys, supporting more than a hundred grown ones is a financial burden. In July, he finally couldn't hold back any longer and delivered an ultimatum: if the county government wouldn't let him openly sell monkeys, he would be forced to let them die of starvation.

Monkeys starving to death? Whether or not it breaks the laws of heaven, such neglect would definitely violate the Wildlife Conservation Law. As expected, the county government told him that he most certainly cannot engage in the monkey trade, and that if he lets the monkeys die of starvation, he could be prosecuted under the provision of the law that says, "abusing animals can be punished by a jail sentence of one year."

For this group of monkeys crying out for food, Huang Juei-hsiang, head of the county government's Bureau of Agriculture, suddenly came up with an idea that he thought could solve Huang Han-fu's problems. Wouldn't it be better to first consult with experts, he suggested, to feed the monkeys part of what they need while setting them loose to forage in the wild for part of the day? In this way they would slowly return to the wild. The county government also took donations, establishing a fund for returning to nature wild animals that had been abandoned by people. It was hoped the action would also educate the public about not "keeping too many" wild animals.

How did Huang Han-fu react? He took his monkeys to the street in protest! He believed that since he had registered his monkeys with the county government when the law first went into effect, he owned them legally. As the monkeys multiplied, he spent a fortune feeding them. Since the county government wouldn't let him sell them, he argued, they should buy them or subsidize them.

Before the Wildlife Conservation Law was implemented, monkey brain was a delicacy served at restaurants specializing in mountain cuisine. （photo by Vincent Chang）

Leaving behind a mess:

At this point, the Council of Agriculture couldn't help but jump in to sort things out. The fact is that in 1972 the government implemented a total ban on hunting to reduce human impact on wild animals. The Council of Agriculture holds that Huang Han-fu's purchasing of these monkeys was illegal. But in the past the fines for hunting were too light. At a mere NT$150, they constituted virtually no fine at all, and many people still hunted and raised wild animals like before. When the Wildlife Conservation Law was enacted, in order to make enforcement easier and to prevent further capture, they required that all owners of protected wild animals come and have them registered. "But this registration doesn't give him legal ground to stand on," said an official at the Council of Agriculture.

And since he is complaining that he can't raise them any more, why is he still putting mature males and females together, making the number of young monkeys grow instead of decline? "I want young monkeys," he admits, because people like to buy young monkeys as pets. Hence, he won't separate the mature males and females.

By not doing so while knowing full well that trade in monkeys is illegal, he has made officials of the Council of Agriculture turn a deaf ear to his pleas for government assistance or permission to sell. "Assistance? Out of the question," says the Council of Agriculture's Conservation Department chief. Even conservation groups, whose first priority is protecting the animals, are against the idea, believing that many others would try to dump messes of their own making on the government. In Taiwan, people are still raising tigers and orangutans, and recently some have even requested to raise giraffes and elephants. If later they grow unhappy with their pets, should they then have the right to ask the government to help them out or buy their pets from them?

Huang's monkeys use a gas drum with its ends removed to serve as their humble home. There are some that have been put in cages to mate.

Any monkeys for sale?

Huang Han-fu may be in the wrong, but what he has said has drawn support from the media and public.

The monkey incident, in which Huang played the starring role, served as a free advertisement for his monkey business. Many people have called him to buy small monkeys as pets. Department stores wanted to borrow his monkeys for an exhibition, and even Yang Ming Medical College hopes to experiment on 14 of the monkeys that Huang can't afford to raise.

Before the law, about 300 monkeys a year were used by medical colleges for experiments. After it came into effect, the medical colleges have had to apply to the Council of Agriculture and rely on the zoos to provide them. But today, with animal rights groups around the world making repeated pleas for an end to experiments on animals, the Council of Agriculture is strict about reviewing requests, and very few monkeys can be had legally for experimentation. Hospitals, however, have continued to buy monkeys on the black market. Many, including ecologists, hope for a solution to this embarrassing problem.

Huang Han-fu says self-righteously that the medical colleges have been wanting to buy his monkeys for a long time. Why can't he take some of the monkeys that he has bred himself and sell some to medical colleges? And anyway, isn't this of benefit to humanity? when he drove a truck emblazoned with the words "The Great Changhua Formosan Rock Monkey Breeding Center" around Taiwan, he found numerous Formosan Rock Monkeys in the wild. This irks him even more. Why should the species still be protected? He wants to get in touch with owners of protected wild animals island wide to plan a march on the Council of Agriculture on which they will take their animals in tow.

The angry growl of the Monkey King: Some people want to gorge on my brain, others to raise me as a pet--where do I get respect?

Arrogance:

When the monkey business in the cities was the focus of attention, the lot of the monkeys in the wild was slowly changing too.

With the establishment of national parks and preservation districts, over-capturing and overkilling of wild animals has gradually declined, and even Wu Hai-yin, a holder of a doctorate from NTU who has made a six-year study of wild Formosan Rock Monkeys, feels that the population of wild Formosan Rock Monkeys has clearly been restored. Recently, there have been constant reports of monkeys entering orchards to find food. At their wits' end about how to rid themselves of these simian pests, farmers sometimes resort to killing them.

But the numner of monkeys has only increased. If they are no longer a threatened species, as many think, do they no longer need protection? Should they be taken off the protected species list? "The species is spread over a small area," says Wu Hai-yin, "so small that it barely occupies a dot on a world map." Its being a species unique to Taiwan was a major reason it was placed on the protected species list. Though numerous here, there's no backup population anywhere else.

With the rapid growth of world population and the accompanying destruction of the natural environment, the protected species lists of every country "ought only to grow," stresses Fang Kuo-yun of the Council of Agriculture's Department of Resource Conservation. "Man's successful conservation efforts should never result in an animal being taken off the list."

Though people may feel that monkeys have grown in number, their feeling needs scientific verification. People may be encroaching deeper into wilderness now, Wu says. With greater chances of coming face to face with monkeys, they have a mistaken notion that the monkeys' numbers are growing.

Even for animals of the same species, it's important to consider those in the wild separately from those in captivity. "Even if the wild members of a species have grown in number," says Tang Hsiaoyu, "you still shouldn't buy and sell those bred in captivity."

Although it can't ride on clouds or fog, climbing trees and swinging from the branches is a piece of cake. Recently a war has broken out over the monkeys of Changua, and it has expanded to include the question of whether or not monkeys in the wild should be protected.

Do wild flowers always smell sweeter?

It's not easy to breed wild animals artificially. You've got to be able to control the environmental factors affecting their propagation. As for species already wiped out in the wild, if groups are being bred in captivity, it may be possible to go a step farther and try to release some into the wild to reestablish a wild population. It could be said that these breeders are making a great contribution to extending the life of species in the wild. Before the conservation law, there were already people in Taiwan spending a lot of energy raising and breeding animals--such as Formiosan Gem-faced Civets and Formosan Ring-necked Pheasants--whose numbers were declining in the wild.

But breeding a species in captivity is not the same as restoring its numbers in the wild. In the process of being tamed, certain genes of a species may change or be lost. In particular, those breeders concerned with quantity rather than quality often breed close relatives. Inbred, the animals will slowly weaken.

There are eight monkeys of foreign species in the monkey garden of Huang Han-fu, which have been bred with the Formosan rock monkeys. "Whether or not they are pure bred doesn't concern me," Huang has told Council of Agriculture inspectors. "I just want young monkeys I can sell. It's just like those who breed dogs for money." But perhaps he doesn't know that today people with great resources at their disposal are trying to breed a pure Formosan dog out of mongrels.

Have you seen this kind of scene in the wild? Protecting wild monkeys preserves genes that may be of benefit to humanity. What`s even more important is that it makes the world more colorful. Doesn't it?

The marvel of genes:

One of the reasons for protecting wild animals is in fact to protect genes that are beneficial to man. The gene pool has been shaped over the course of hundreds of millions of years. As soon as a species' genes are lost it means that mankind has lost a priceless treasure that it will never see again. By protecting one more gene, perhaps, like in the movie Jurassic Park, we will one day be able to bring the dinosaurs back to life.

Researchers around the world are working to store wild animal genes. Keeping the genes in the natural environment is the easiest method and best way of guaranteeing quality. Breeding in captivity may significantly alter a species' genetic makeup and reduce its resistance to disease. When needed, the bad genes can be replaced by good ones from the wild population.

This is why when the county government brought up their concern about the destiny of mankind and suggested releasing Formosan rock monkeys in the wild, the Council of Agriculture and ecologists told the county government not to be too anxious.

"Prohibiting releases in the wild is good both for people and the future of the species," Wu Haiyin says. How many of Huang Han-fu's monkeys have been interbred and how pure they are must be considered. Otherwise, it will affect the purity of the wild species.

Even if environmental assessment deems that a release can be made, it is necessary first to have a semi-wild environment so that the monkeys can learn how to survive in the wild. Hence, some group needs to manage this long-term job. It took a lot of money and more than ten years of effort to isolate pure-bred strains of the Formosan Sika deer and then get the deer adjusted to the wild environment. For a monkey preserve, first you'd have to put up fences to prevent their escape and carry out research to get stock with pure genes. After they were released in the wild, there would have to be continued tracking of them to see how they influenced the groups that had always been wild. Each step would be expense. Just because one person didn't respect the law, central and local government and ultimately tax payers would have to keep feeding this money pit. "You'd spend a lot right off," says one conservationist, "and then if there were problems when you released them in the wild, you'd have to come up with more money."

War of the monkeys:

To the Formosan Rock Monkeys of Changhua themselves, being released in the wild is definitely not the best way to go. Most of them have already spent seven or eight years in cages. If people released them today, albeit with the best of intentions, it might be more like abandonment- -because these monkeys may have lost their ability to survive in the wild. "Many of them are old, and they would make poor learners," one expert says. "If they saw men, their past experience might tell them that they could get fed, and the result is that they might injure people or get hurt themselves."

Even if these "pet monkeys" can make it out in the wild, in the deep mountains groups of already wild monkeys have staked out their claims. With ever less natural habitat, there's no way a new group will be welcome. In Changhua itself, there's no wild area large enough for it. The only mountain district, at the foot of Pakua Mountain, is home already to some 30 monkeys, which have recently been making a mess of local litchi orchards and causing farmers to complain to the county government. Dumping the domesticated monkeys there would result in competition between them and the wild monkeys.

"Why should we hurt wild monkey groups with these raised in captivity?" says Wu Hai-yin. These groups in the wild generally range from 30 to 50, and the areas in which they live are quite defined. If suddenly a battalion of 100 monkeys arrived from captivity, the original inhabitants would suffer from their loss of living space.

The Monkey King becomes a pet:

If a release in the wild would cause too much damage, then what about allowing a sale of the monkeys? "I'm afraid that would not only not solve Huang Han-fu's problem," says one academic, "but would cause even more problems"--because the future might constitute a series of monkey blood baths.

Recently, in America there have been many cases of people getting rabies from horses and small wild animals. A monkey's tooth is four centimeters long. Besides the pain to the skin and flesh, the bite, being from a fellow primate, would be much more likely to carry a communicable disease.

"Monkeys are troublemakers by nature and make unsuitable pets," says Wu Hai-yin. Many think of monkeys as being really cute, and it's only when they buy one and bring it home that they discover all the problems. For example, instead of breaking branches as in the wild, Bonzo may break the furniture in your living room. Unable to cope, owners abandon their pets. Zoos frequently take such monkeys. Often, after paying dearly for them, the buyers of Huang Han-fu's young monkeys will bring them back. Huang gives them nothing in return.

If Huang and others can get permission to buy and sell monkeys, it could cause a problem with strays a la cats and dogs.

When people raise wild animals in large numbers farm animals are the result. There's no point in doing this today, says Tang Hsiao-yu. With the current abundance of livestock, people have many ways to get animal protein. The trend is to discourage people from raising or trading in wild animals in large quantities. "Raising monkeys as pets and eating monkey brain are not life necessities," he says.

Wild animals need not just be put somewhere to fend for themselves. With care and protection, some species may revive. When their numbers have multiplied, some of the controls over their treatment may be relaxed, such as by permitting restricted hunting. If natural resources can be used eternally, people wouldn't need to waste a lot of money restoring species.

A bird in the hand:

This may be the case, but in looking at current efforts to breed wild animals in captivity, the Council of Agriculture takes a more practical tack, asking scholars to gather data widely and hoping they will refer to the experimental models used by foreign studies of primates. The council is also drawing up guidelines for the breeding of protected wild animal species. At appropriate times it will provide human-bred monkeys to be used by research units.

"But you've got to proceed very cautiously," explains Tang Hsiao-yu, about why the guidelines for breeding protected animal species have yet to be finalized. Protesting at recent international conferences, animal rights groups have unfolded posters of monkeys with their skulls opened up. The Council of Agriculture must consider the situation abroad. It may follow the lead of Western nations and give licenses to experimenters after they have been properly inspected. Those without licenses would not be allowed to conduct experiments on monkeys. Breeders that provided research units with their monkeys would also need tighter controls, including regulations about the breeding environment. These controls would prevent them from abusing animal species and getting themselves in trouble with animal rights groups.

What are the monkeys' sins?

But laws are of no use in an emergency. What can be done with the monkeys of Changhua?

The curtain hasn't come down on this problem, and it is said that many monkeys are dying young. The Council of Agriculture has thought about confiscating them and sending them to three different areas. Veterinarians say that among the monkeys that have died, one had long-term liver problems and one had dysentery. Can monkeys long caged by man, in poor health and with many diseases, adapt to a new environment? What crime have these monkeys committed? According to the Orangutan Foundation, there's not much that can be done about a situation like this. There are always some living things that will have to suffer.

But to prevent similar problems from reoccurring requires hard work. Hsia Liang-chou, a professor at the National Pingtung Polytechnic Institute, wonders how many times relevant government units have gone to educate the animal breeders since the preservation law has been implemented? Has anyone told them not to interbreed monkeys? What effects will raising Formosan rock monkeys have on the environment? What effect would releases have? "Before you start making requests of these people, you've got to educate them first." If even the work of scientists researching crop yields may be affected by restrictions on the breeding of wild animals in captivity, how can we expect that normal breeders will suddenly understand the ecological point of view?"

The monkeys on the street are, one fears, telling us that the implementation of ecological conservation measures is not something that can just be the concern of a few. It requires a lot of effort to be spent in communication and education. But even if Huang Han-fu's monkeys can teach people this lesson, it may still be too late for the monkeys themselves.

[Picture Caption]

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Huang Han-fu leads his Formosan rock monkeys out on the street, asking the county government to permit him to sell them, (photo courtesy of Hung Pi-chen)

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Before the Wildlife Conservation Law was implemented, monkey brain was a delicacy served at restaurants specializing in mountain cuisine. (photo by Vincent Chang)

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Huang's monkeys use a gas drum with its ends removed to serve as their humble home. There are some that have been put in cages to mate.

p.79

The angry growl of the Monkey King: Some people want to gorge on my brain, others to raise me as a pet--where do I get respect?

p.80

Although it can't ride on clouds or fog, climbing trees and swinging from the branches is a piece of cake. Recently a war has broken out over the monkeys of Changua, and it has expanded to include the question of whether or not monkeys in the wild should be protected.

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Have you seen this kind of scene in the wild? Protecting wild monkeys preserves genes that may be of benefit to humanity. What`s even more important is that it makes the world more colorful. Doesn't it?