Monkeys threaten San Juan

TOA BAJA, Puerto Rico — When hordes of monkeys began invading Puerto Rico's agricultural fields, devastating crops and eluding capture, the major concern was trapping them before they reached urban areas, where they would pose a public health hazard and be nearly impossible to round up.

Fear is turning to outrage. Authorities recently acknowledged a clan of these pesky moneys, escapees from defunct medical-research laboratories along Puerto Rico's southern coast, has turned up just 20 minutes outside metropolitan San Juan — home to 1.5 million residents and a virtually unlimited number of hiding places.

"It would be very bad if these monkeys got to San Juan," said Jose Chalbert, director of Puerto Rico's Department of Natural Resources, an agency that recently proposed capturing the wild monkeys because they carry diseases.

"I don't even want to think about having to trap monkeys there," Chalbert said, adding that money for his $3 million effort to trap the monkeys is being held up amid all the fighting going on in the legislature.

Primates are not native to Puerto Rico. But the island has been home to a species of monkey dating back to the 1950s when scientists brought them here for medical experiments.

The animals — descendants of the patas and rhesus monkeys that escaped from medical-research labs — are known to be fertile and aggressive.

Mature monkeys can weigh up to 50 pounds, and it's estimated the monkey population in southeast Puerto Rico stands at between 1,000 and 2,000 — and it's growing every day.

No one knows how many primates live in and around Toa Baja, a small agricultural community just west of San Juan.

Elias Sanchez, a top assistant to Toa Baja's mayor, said the city is trying to address the problem. But the trapping and control of the population is beyond the scope of any local community.

"The island's government should be helping," he said, adding that the population of monkeys is "very small."

Residents insist dozens of them have taken up residence near Toa Baja's municipal dump. Inside the landfill they forage for food and then they explore nearby neighborhoods, frightening residents.

Emma Vasquez, who lives next to the landfill, said a baby monkey once jumped from a tree onto the roof of her house.

"At first we all thought it was cute," said Vasquez, 60. "Then it started tipping over all of my plants in the balcony and growling at me."

When she called police, authorities from the island's natural-resource department showed up wearing white body suits and masks to protect themselves. "That scared me even more," she said.

The monkey eventually was sedated and then removed from her roof.

In another incident, Wilberto Cerrano said he has seen about 15 monkeys as close as 200 yards from his home "swinging in the trees and running around, like they are happy as can be."

Cerrano said he doesn't think the animals will make their way into San Juan. "They don't like people. They keep their distance," Cerrano, 55, said.