Tips to keep monkeys away from your home

Many residents are plagued by marauding monkeys and would like to discourage them from making a mess on their properties without harming them.

Follow these simple tips to prevent monkeys from entering your residence.

Method 1:

* Use fully secured bins. Easily accessible food in rubbish areas will encourage monkeys to move further into residential areas and even enter houses.

* Don’t feed monkeys. If monkeys get fed they will come back looking for more food.

* Pick the fruit from your trees. If this is a consistent problem, consider whether you should continue to cultivate fruit trees. If you are growing vegetables in the ground, be sure to cover them with a strong wire mesh designed to resist primates.

* Monkey-proof your house. Cover your windows with a mesh covering. Meshing a window and keeping food out of sight will discourage curious monkeys.

* Avoid the use of plastic bags. Monkeys are curious and will snatch plastic bags which have food and forage through rubbish bags.

* Spread the word. If you secure bins, close windows and don’t feed monkeys, but other people aren’t so vigilant, the problem won’t be solved. Be sure to speak to your neighbours and explain how discouraging monkeys is the most effective way to deal with the problem.

Method 2:

* Scare them off. Keep some big sticks, a hose or another water spraying device handy. If you see a monkey, you can scare if off without harming it.

* Build an electric fence. There is evidence that electric fences are effective at containing monkeys and are unlikely to harm the animals if done correctly, but you will need expert help for this.

* Deploy an electronic sound repellent. These devices tend to be used where there are lots of people coming and going and it is hard to ensure that no rubbish or food waste is left accessible to monkeys in the area.