FARMERS UNHAPPY AT MACAQUES EATING THEIR FRUIT|南庄甜柿套袋階段 獼猴搶先摘食農民惱

It's almost the harvest season for sweet persimmons in Miaoli County's Nanchuang Township. However, the crop has been devastated by Formosan macaques. The Formosan macaque is an endangered species, so farmers are not allowed to capture them or set up traps. Farmers don't know what to do and hope the government can come to the rescue. This orchard has many persimmon trees with protective covers on the fruit, but inside the covers, they were either empty or the persimmons were partially eaten. Farmers were angry. ==Farmer== Look at these protective covers, they all are empty. They have been got at by macaques. Many persimmon orchards in Miaoli's Nanzhuang Township were devastated by Formosan macaques. Farmers used firecrackers, alarm bells made of cans and scarecrows to scare macaques away, however, all were useless. ==YOUNG YU-TZE, Farmer== Macaques picked the edible ones. (But those persimmons are not ripe yet) Not sweet. (But you can't do anything to macaques, are they too hungry?) Maybe they are too hungry. (How many were eaten?) In this orchard, nearly 20% of persimmons were eaten. Farmers said Formosan macaques come into the orchards during the night. They are an endangered species, and so they don't dare to trap them. ==CHEN CHIEN-AN, Nanzhuang Township Farmers' Assn.== There was snow on the mountain early this year, so there is not enough food for the macaques there. Therefore they came down and ate the farmers' fruit. Researchers point out that the orchard is near to the macaques' habitat, and the number of macaques has increased. Although using electric fencing is the most effective way to protect orchards, the costs are very high. Farmers urge the government to help solve the problem. TRANSLATED BY：ANTHONY LIN 苗栗南庄即將邁入甜柿產季，不過最近卻飽受獼猴所害，樹上果實尚未成熟，還在套袋階段，就被猴子搶先摘走，受損率估計兩成以上，由於獼猴是保育類，農民不敢捕捉，但猴子根本不怕假人和鞭炮，農民不知道如何是好。 果園裡樹上雖然套滿袋子，不過翻開仔細一看，裡面不是空空如也，就是被咬掉一部分，地上全都是被剝下的套袋，農民看得欲哭無淚。 ==農民== 你看這些套袋 都是空的 全部都被猴子扯掉的 苗栗南庄的甜柿園，最近飽受猴子侵擾，還沒成熟得柿子被摘了一大半，果樹的枝條也被折斷，農民為了趕猴子，點鞭炮驅趕，或是裝一串鐵罐，當做警示鈴，甚至掛上帽子衣服當做假人，全都沒有用。 ==農民 楊玉枝== 牠能吃就吃了 （柿子現在不是還不甜） （可是沒辦法 太餓了嗎） 太餓了吧（你被吃掉多少） 我這邊已經吃掉 差不多兩成 農民無奈說，猴子都是晚上行動，加上屬於保育類動物，不敢隨意捕捉。 ==南庄鄉農會總幹事 陳乾安== 因為(年初)下了一場雪 山上一些猴子吃的食物來源 都沒有了 牠就往山下來危害農作物 專家說因為果園離猴子棲地很近，加上族群越來越大，和人類生活圈重疊，產生衝突，目前架設電網是最有效的方式，不過成本很高，農民希望政府可以幫忙想辦法解決。 記者 綜合報導