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Florida Critters: Monkeys?!   arrow

Florida Critters: Monkeys?!

Well, this isn’t an article I ever thought I’d have to write. But this is a strange new world we’re living in, and it’s changing by the day. Not only are we beset by infestations of reptiles of every kind, but it looks like primates are jostling for their own slice of the pie. That’s right, monkeys.

Monkeys in Florida?!

In central Florida, there’s a large park known as the Silver Spring State Park. It’s a large patchwork of forest and swamp’ It also has a large river flowing through its entire length. But that’s not what we’re here to learn about. For the last eighty years, the park has been home to wild monkeys.

You read that right. The state park is home to at least three hundred monkeys known as the Rhesus Macaque. This monkey is native to southeast Asia. The animals are breeding rapidly.  As a result, the monkey population is going to double in the next few years. That is unless steps are taken to stop these little things according to a recent study.

Rhesus Macaque

 

The study, published October 26 in the journal Wildlife Management, claims that such an increase could put the health of the park and its visitors in serious jeopardy. Mainly it is because, among other problems, the monkeys carry a rare and deadly form of herpes virus called herpes B. It’s extremely, extremely rare for herpes B to spread from a monkey to a human. When it does, it can be fatal.

How Did They Get Here?

Florida’s trouble with these primates began in 1938. That is when a tour boat operator released a few of the macaques onto a small island in the state park. He bought them in New York with the intention of creating a Tarzan-like attraction> Sadly, even the best-laid plans fall apart sometimes.

Little did the operator know, but these monkeys are strong swimmers. Within hours of getting to the island, the monkeys began escaping off into the woods. Did he stop there? No. He bought more to replace them. But they escaped as well. By the eighties, these monkeys had spread out and multiplied to the hundreds across the five thousand acre park.

The scary part of all of this is that the population continues to expand and is increasing it’s speed in doing so. It’s reached the point where it’s increasing by about eleven percent every year.

But efforts to stop the breeding boom were put to a halt when the public released the monkeys were being captured and sold. Trappers with permits from the state had been selling them to biomedical researchers. Which, didn’t sit well with many animal rights groups. One trapper alone managed to catch seven hundred of these primates.

Now, if we’re honest it’s unlikely you’ll see one of these in your yard. But if you do, steer clear. While the little fellas can be cute, it’s never a good idea to underestimate the strength of a primate. Their strength tends to be much greater pound for pound than that of a human of anywhere near equal size.