00:03A security camera captures the moment a troop of monkeys nearly attacks a middle school student.
00:09Here at Yuenming Junior High School in central Taiwan, such encounters with monkeys,
00:13Formosan rock macaques, are a part of daily life.
00:16And as the school's principal says, they are becoming more common as their numbers boom
00:21and the boundary blurs between human settlement and monkey habitat.
00:33Government monitoring shows he's not wrong.
00:36A nationwide network of automatic infrared cameras has spied a steady increase in sightings between 2019 and 2024.
00:44And while the macaques may just be a nuisance for schools, they're an economic nightmare for farmers.
00:50The owner of this orchard, also in central Taiwan, reckons that monkeys have cost him close to $2,000 in
00:56losses from the most recent crop.
01:02The trouble is that Taiwan is home for these monkeys too.
01:10In fact, the Formosan rock macaque is found naturally only in Taiwan.
01:15As run-ins with humans increase, what can be done?
01:18There are a range of ideas.
01:20Paintball guns, firecrackers, dogs, and electric fences are among the tools used by some people living near monkey habitats.
01:29But there are many more ideas, some that conflict sharply.
01:33Some officials have pitched a catch-and-release sterilization program to keep numbers down,
01:38though the social nature of the monkeys means they can't be simply neutered or spayed, as with dogs and cats.
02:05Formosan rock macaques were reclassified from a protected species to ordinary wildlife in 2019,
02:11leading others to suggest they could be hunted on a limited basis.
02:15This is already starting to happen, though there are rules.
02:19We are now choosing some teaching areas.
02:23After teaching, we will build this SOP.
02:26The students will open the conference, and we will be able to do it.
02:30And then we will be able to do it.
02:33But conservationists say the monkeys belong here just as much as people.
02:37Besides humans, they're Taiwan's only native primate.
02:41Though specifics may need to be ironed out,
02:44conservationists say Taiwan needs to learn to live with what, after all, is just a part of nature.
03:03As contact and conflict with humans grow,
03:06Taiwan faces tough choices when it comes to how to treat its thriving monkey population.
03:12Luffy Lee and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.
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