Amresh Gunasingham Straits Times 24 Jan 11;
THESE daytime snatch thieves have a soft spot for bread and peanuts.
In the past few months, a pair of macaques have made weekly forays from a nearby jungle to a residential area along Montreal Drive in Sembawang.
There, before startled or amused passers-by, the mischievous pair - one believed to be an adult and the other a baby - brazenly swipe loaves of bread and peanut packs from a provision shop's racks.
'It could be early in the morning or the afternoon. They will come and take the food,' said a staff member of Ikea Mini Mart, adding that traps put up to catch the monkeys have not had success so far.
Of late, though, there has been a lull in this unusual form of 'monkey business' there. Monkeys in Singapore normally tend to prey on unsuspecting homes in their search for food.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said the number of complaints of nuisance from monkeys rose last year. A total of 792 such complaints were lodged last year, up 30 per cent from 611 in 2009.
The AVA spokesman said that of last year's complaints, five were from the Sembawang area. Last October, it lent a trap to the Sembawang Town Council to nab the elusive monkeys. However, it was removed when it showed no success after a month.
Residents there said monkey sightings are common because large parts of Sembawang are still jungle areas.
The sightings mirror incidents in residential areas such as Bukit Panjang, Bedok and Loyang.
Recent estimates here put the number of macaques, which are the most common species here, at around 2,000.
Assistant Professor David Bickford, from the department of biological sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS), said the migration of monkeys from their natural habitat could be a 'tell-tale sign of a degradation of the forests here'.
'Monkeys forage widely for fruit and small insects, so it could be that the 'food' trees may be getting fewer.'
Another factor could be a cyclical spike in the wild monkey population here, he said. 'The population of macaques might not have been held in check by predators such as pythons.'
Veteran nature guide Subaraj Rajathurai said that in the past, the popularity of feeding wild monkeys was responsible for their growing numbers.
As the authorities clamped down on the practice, their numbers came down. But as Singapore got greener, the reservoirs and parks built around the island proved fertile new grounds for monkeys looking for feeding spots.
Mr Subaraj added that some monkeys may also continue to roam traditional hunting grounds such as forests in the Bukit Timah area, which have today made way for developments such as condominiums.
