Editor
I AM writing in response to letter in the Northglen News with the headline, ‘Aggressive monkeys’.
Monkeys are certainly not breeding ‘prolifically’ or out of control – if anything, we are. Female monkeys have one baby per year from the age of four to five ears old. Males reach sexual maturity from the age of four to five years old too. One of out of five babies reach adulthood. Eighty percent of monkeys that are rescued on a daily basis are euthanised – this is due to speeding motorists, pellet gun shootings, dog attacks, high voltage electric fencing, poisoning, et cetera.
We as humans are the ‘aggressive’, intolerant ones. Our urban wildlife is under severe threat and strain, trying to survive in an ever more unfriendly, intolerant human world. As humans, we need to learn to ‘share’ our space and to educate ourselves on why animals do what they do. Perhaps a kinder, more understanding approach would be better than the old, traditional, aggressive approach.
We need to respect, honour and educate ourselves about our wildlife. It may not be here forever.
Ellysa Entwistle
Durban North
