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Man or Monkey
An elder gentleman tells me of monkey problems in Kuromata. 99.12.06/ Temperature: 5C/ Weather: Rain/ Wind Direction: N
Start: Kurokawamura 38 56 58 N 139 20 46E
Destination: Shibata 37 56 58 N 139 20 46 E
Distance Traveled: 20 kmFor quite some time I have heard about damage done to fields by serows and deer; yesterday and today I learned about how Japanese monkeys are effecting mountain villages. I was able to learn from local villagers and had a run-in with a group of close to 20 monkeys.
Kuromata is a small village up in the hills of north-eastern Niigata Prefecture. During the post war years there were approximately 22 households. Following severe flooding in the 1960's the number of households decreased rapidly. Today only 15 households remain, most of which inhabited by elderly singles or couples. The villagers told me how the Japanese monkeys are effecting them.
Whether you can see them or not there are about 20 monkeys on this hillside. "It's either us or the monkeys," said an elderly gentleman seeming to be half joking. "This year our vegetables have been almost completely ruined by the monkeys. They mainly go after our vegetables and sometimes our rice." Apparently after going through the proper procedures it is permitted to shoot the monkeys. However, few hunters like to shoot the gray fuzzy primates because of their likeness to humans. "It would be best if we could find a way not to kill the monkeys," he said.
"They first came from the mountains about 20 years ago," said an elderly woman. "Back then there were more people in town so the monkeys weren't so much of a problem. Now that we are all getting old we can't match up to the monkeys. They come in groups of between 30 and 50 during the day." The damage caused by the monkey this year is apparently the worst in several years. Villagers attribute this to the lack of food in the forests for the monkeys.
What appears to be the remains of a pumpkin eaten by a monkey. I kept my eyes peeled all yesterday hoping to see some monkeys. It wasn't until this afternoon that my wish came true. As I passed by a rice paddy, I heard a yelp from its edge at the foot of a forested hill. A gray blur ducked down into a drainage ditch and reappeared climbing up the leaf covered hillside. I was excited to see just one monkey, ecstatic when I realized there were approximately 20 of them up on the hillside. The monkey who seemed to be the leader of the group was letting everyone know that I was near.
I slowly approached the hillside to get a better look and possibly take a picture. With each step I took, the monkeys receded further up on the hillside. They are obviously cautious of human presence. Leaving the monkeys alone, some sat high up on branches looking out over the valley. Others blended in with the fallen leaves that cover the hillside. For a second they appeared to be grand, the keepers of the small hillside. When I remembered what I had learned in Kuromata, I wondered whether or not their mischief has effected local farmers. Leaving the monkeys, their mountain, and the rice paddy I notice what appeared to be a mush of pumpkinseeds. Apparently the monkeys had already made their mark.
Fog capping the lower valley in the distance and clouds resting above the mountains create a beautiful horizontal window of the Niigata mountains. As beautiful and playful as the monkeys may be, they pose a huge menace, particularly to aging communities like Kuromata. It has become a time where both monkey and human habitats and feeding grounds are beginning to overlap. Though I did not come across any wise tactics to solve food shortage problems for monkeys in the mountains or to counter the damage caused by monkeys, the gentlemen I spoke with expressed his concern about finding a solution that would make both parties happy.
I'd like to ask all of you to think of any ways to create harmony between humans and Japanese monkey.
Greg
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