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LAJAS, Puerto Rico

Authorities launched a sketch out this month to seizure and kill the monkeys before they spread athwart the entire island, threatening agriculture, native wildlife and maybe people. But some animal experts and the farmers who have complained for years hind part before the rhesus and patas monkeys ruminate it may be too late.

“I don’t honestly convinced they will perpetually get rid of the patas monkeys in Puerto Rico,” said Dr. Mark Wilson, director of the Florida International Teaching Zoo, that has helped gain arrive at zoos willing to take some of the animals. “They may go deep into the forest, only they will not go away. There’s merited too many of them, and they are too smart.”

At least 1,000 monkeys from at least 11 distinct colonies people the Lajas Valley. After a year of investigate, rangers began trapping them in steel cages that are about 10 feet longing, baited with food and equipped by a trip lever. Two of 16 monkeys were released with radio collars for further tracking. Each of the others was killed with one shot from a .22-caliber rifle.

Officials determined shooting the monkeys was greater degree humane than lethal injection, aforesaid Secretary of Natural Resources Javier Velez Arrocho. He said he regrets having to kill the animals but had no choice after 92 organizations rejected them.

Animal treatment is a impressible topic in Puerto Rico, which was in the spotlight final year after about 80 dogs and cats were seized from a horse-cloth project and hurled off a bridge. In May, a veterinary surgeon confirmed that more than 400 racehorses, many in perfect health, are killed by injection in Puerto Rico eddish. year. Both cases sparked widespread criticism.

But the elimination of pesky monkeys has not spawned public protests.

“My personal opinion is that I would rather experience them put to death than put through horrible experiments,” said Sally Figueroa, a board member of the animal-welfare group Pare Este in the eastern city of Fajardo.

The scourge of nonnative animals is particularly acute in Puerto Rico because of its luxuriant climate and lack of predators. Several species of dangerous snakes, crocodiles, caimans and alligators

The Lajas Valley monkeys arrived in the 1960s and ’70s after escaping inquiry facilities on small islands just from the mainland. They adapted easily, fueled by luxuriant crops, including pineapple, melon and the eggs of wild birds.

The creatures cost about $300,000 in annual damage and more than $1 million in indirect ways, such as forcing farmers to plant less profitable crops that don’cheek by jowl attract the animals, according to an analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other agencies. The monkeys are also blamed for a dramatic drop in the valley’s general survey population.

The patas, natives of Africa, are not considered desirable for investigation, and there’s little demand from zoos. The rhesus monkeys, from Asia, are believed to be infected with a variation of the herpes virus and hepatitis, making them potentially ticklish to humans, Velez said. Patas can also harbor the viruses.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008542016_monkeys.html?syndication=rss