CNN - 600 Texas monkeys need a new barrel

November 3, 1995
Web posted at: 5 p.m. EST

From Reporter Tony Clark

DILLEY, Texas (CNN) -- Six hundred Japanese snow monkeys are down on the farm, but maybe not for long. The red-faced droves of energetic simians roam the mesquite-covered ranch in Dilley, Texas, just an hour's drive south of San Antonio.

They're descendants of a group brought to the United States in 1972 after they had become a nuisance in their homeland near Koyto, Japan. Now, they are wearing out their welcome in Texas too. (640K QuickTime movie)

"We're told that they get out and get in your houses and that they can be rather destructive," says Jim Stinebuaugh, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (128K AIFF sound or 128K WAV sound)

Researcher Lou Griffin was instrumental in giving the monkeys a home in the ranch. At the time, Griffin was married to a member of the ranching family, but the marriage failed.

Now Griffin's former husband and other heirs to the ranch are in court fighting over the land. "This particular ranch is going through the process of coming unglued as the ranch is being partitioned; basically the monkeys are being caught in the crossfire of that," Griffin says.

Compounding the problem is that the number of monkeys has quadrupled and the electrified fence that once kept them contained no longer works. "We do have some males that will wander off and follow the rivers up and go onto neighboring ranches looking for another troop because it's become so over populated," says Michele Cadawallader, the spokesman for the ranch family heirs.

And further bad news, especially for the monkeys, is that they are not protected by the Endangered Species Act. Griffin fears that some people will take that to mean it's open season. "They're two-foot high, fuzzy vegetarians. They've never harmed a human being. It's wrong to shoot them," she says. (56K AIFF sound or 56K WAV sound)

Griffin is trying to raise $200,000 to buy land and build a fenced-in facility for the monkeys. She has already tested a prototype containment facility. But Griffin doesn't have much time to raise the money. Her option on the land runs out December 15.

And without the money, the monkey's days in south Texas could be numbered. "I shudder to think what will happen. There is not a spot in the zoo for 600 monkeys."

Many of the males have been given vasectomies in hopes of eventually reducing the monkey population. Researchers fear that if enough money isn't raised soon, they'll be forced to reduce the monkey population by more drastic means.

For inquiries and donations, write:
Box 702
Dilley, Texas 78017

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