Monkey business

Why do people feed monkeys in the nature reserve. I believe it’s plain stubbornness. You didn’t know it’s an offence to feed animals? Oh come on!!! You have to be blind to miss the big billboard found strategically at nature reserve. I can even name you a few- MacRitchie Reservoir near the zig zag bridge and near the Paddle Lodge. Upp Seletar reservoir, on road side leading to carpark.

Nparks has their reason for disallowing feeding of monkeys. First of all, monkeys found in nature reserve are wild, not domestic. They do not need human intervention to survive. God designed them to feed for themselves with food found in the forest. 

By feeding monkeys, you are actually crippling them by creating a reliance in them for food hand out by human. As I said earlier, monkeys HAVE the natural ability to find food in the forest. And when they assume people will always give them food, they change their feeding habit. Instead of staying in the forest, they are often found waiting on road side adjacent to nature reserve. Some of them are so entitled, they would not budge from a oncoming vehicle, create a potential hazard to both motorist and the monkeys themselves.

Monkeys are also showing aggression, signs are put up at places where such occurances are common. Bukit TImah Nature Reserve Visitor centre is one of them. If you have food in your possession, you are likely to be a target of aggressive monkey. Some are so daring and arrogant; they walk right up to you to snatch food or drinks from around you and even from your hand!!! I am not kidding. In the past when the Macritchie Reservoir hilltop café is still around, I witness aggressive monkey snatching food from the table. It’s not a rare occurrence, it happened almost every week.

Yesterday, I saw a jogger throwing 2 apples to the monkey, without hesitating, I reminding him that feeding monkeys is an offence. He acknowledges that he should not do that. However, his female friend was quite unrelenting. Her reply was “It’s just an apple!!!!” What!? So how do you classified apple?! Isn’t it food?! Or shall we call an apple, an item. I told her it’s NEA regulation. She went on to yuck, until I tell her I will not hesitate to call NEA right there. 

How do we explain such behavior? Is it ignorance or arrogance? You decide.