What a heavy price to pay.

Last Saturday I went to my nephew's wedding in Gemencheh, Tampin, Negeri Sembilan. On returning to Seremban I used the state road from Gemencheh to Selaru, Kuala Pilah. From Selaru to Paroi I used the federal roads. From Paroi to Jalan Jelebu I travelled on the toll free section of the Kajang - Seremban Highway or LEKAS. From Jalan Jelebu to my house in Sikamat I again used both state and federal roads. I am quite pleased by the condition of the state roads in Negeri Sembilan.

At Selaru along the Tampin - Karak federal road I saw a group of monkeys crossing the road from my left to my right. Being smart animals they did not cross the road on foot but my walking on either telephone or power lines, I am not sure. Once they were on the lines to my right they jumped to the woods. I stopped and took a few photographs of them. Fearing that they might attack me I took the shots from my car. Luckily my telephoto zoom lens was with me.

What surprised me was the presence of a lone monkey who jumped last. He only jumped to the woods a few minutes after everybody was gone. That is the monkey at the above photograph. In fact he was looking backwards to where all of them came from. It was as if he was making sure that none of his gang were lagging behind. I am not good at classifying monkeys, so I don't know what family of monkey he belongs to.

Yesterday I read with sadness that a four days old infant was killed after being taken from her cradle by a male monkey. I read further that it was possible that the male monkey was attracted to a female monkey being kept in captivity by the late infant's family. If this is true then I can say that the family had paid a high price for keeping the other monkey in captivity.

I love to watch programs about animals on television. From what I see I can deduce that wild animals should be left at their natural habitat that is the wilderness. I hate to see wild animals like birds and monkeys being kept captive. We should not confuse them with cats and dogs.

My mother have a few durian trees around her house. All over the years we have abundant durian fruits to eat and sell. I can proudly say that my mother managed to send us to school from the money earned from selling durians. But now she complaints that although the durians are bearing fruit like before they are not dropping their ripe fruits likewise. The bulk of the fruits are being eaten by monkeys before they are due to drop.  

This is because the monkeys which had been living in the woods around our kampung are now foraging for food right under the villagers' noses. This is due to their natural habitat being destroyed by humans. Many of the jungle trees that had been bearing fruits for the monkeys are gone. So the monkeys have no choice but be civilised like humans. When my mother complained I told her that the monkeys have the right to line too. Furthermore we don't need the durian fruits like we needed them before. Nevertheless this is a small price for us to pay compared to the one paid by the family in Happy Garden, Seremban.