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Monkey on the road
Tossing chocolate to Japanese monkey, it quickly turns to pick up the chocolate off of the road 99.12.29/ Temperature: 3C/ Weather: Partly cloudy/ Wind Direction: SE
Current Location: Sano City, 36 18 50 N 139 34 47 E
Distance Traveled: 0 kmToday I want to share an incident which happened back in Niigata. Think back to Mikuni Pass and then a bit further to Naeba Ski Resort(see Wisdom reports #098, Dec. 19th) . It was in the ski resort area of Naeba that I came upon a shocking set of tourists as well as a surprisingly bold Japanese monkey.
Rounding the snow covered corner I could see a gray blob hunched over on the side of the road. "Could it be?" I thought to myself. Ever since I saw monkeys further north in Nigata, I have been hoping to get a closer view. In Naeba I was to get far closer than I would have liked to.
Even after being fed a package of chocolate the monkey looks up at me as if it hopes I have something more for it. Getting a clearer view, there was a car parked in front of the gray mass and two young men peered anxiously out of their windows. The gray blob turned out to be an approximately 1 meter (standing) Japanese monkey. Feeding on a package of chocolate, the car zoomed away as I approached. I wasn't even 10 meters away from the monkey now.
I stopped to see what would happen; the monkey examined me closely. I took a picture from the opposite side of the street. The monkey approached me. Just as I nervously backed away another car pulled up. Out came a young couple; the male pulled out a package of chocolate and began sprinkling them in the direction of the monkey. Standing on its hind legs the monkey leaned up against the male as a dog might lean against a befriended human. Joking, the male threw chocolate in the direction of his girlfriend. Naturally the monkey followed, giving the women a fair scare.
Monkeys have become such a problem on the Gunma side of Mikuni pass that hazard signs have been posted. I watched dumbfounded. "Is this a famous monkey?" I asked. "No, we just saw him here and thought we'd bring it some chocolate," said the man. "Is it common for people to feed monkeys like this?" I continued. Preoccupied with feeding the monkey, the couple ignored me and returned to their car. As the woman took the chocolate wrapper and closed her door, the monkey climbed up on the car, swung down through the window and yanked the package clear out of her hands. She yelped loudly and the car zoomed away.
It was just me and the monkey again. The monkey licked greedily at the wrapper and looked up at me. "No I don't have any food for you," I said to it aloud. The monkey strolled into the middle of the road and sat down, an accident waiting to happen. "Get out of here," I said. The monkey seemed annoyed by my presence. It wasn't until I threw a snowball in the monkey's direction that it finally moved off of the road.
Continuing down the road toward Naeba I encountered more monkeys. This time I happened upon a group of monkeys quietly perched on several young trees. Several of them peeled the bark off of young branches.
I had heard that I might encounter monkeys along the route to Gunma, however I didn't expect to meet such an overbearing one. Mr. Hosoya , a local hotel owner, explained to me that the winter months are the worst. I contemplated whether or not this is due to a lack of food in the mountains or to the increasing number of skiers and tourists whom are feeding for their own entertainment. "People don't know that it's not good to feed the monkeys," he said.
"By feeding the monkeys they get used to eating human food. Once they know that they don't have to collect food they make a habit of feeding off of tourists," Mr. Hosoya explained. I wondered how this effects the monkeys' health and ability to collect food for themselves. Monkeys on the road also seem like quite a dangerous hazard for both monkeys and drivers.
I know you all are thinking a lot about how animals and humans can coexist more easily. Do you have any ideas for the monkeys and humans of Nigata?
Greg
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