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Thai Navy Gives Monkeys Vasectomies To Stop Population Growth

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The Royal Thai Navy is taking a creative approach to quell the country’s large monkey population by giving the animals vasectomies.

As Thailand’s tourist market continues to grow, the macaque monkeys are getting pushed out of their natural jungle habitats, due to the increasing demand for new tourist resorts. The monkeys are now creating havoc in Thailand by blocking roads, chewing through telephone wires, and even breaking into offices, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The monkeys were previously brought to Monkey Island in Thailand, however, they quickly reproduced, decimated the natural resources, and now beg for tourists to feed them.

“They’re smart, but they’re a problem. I am sick of them,” Commander Suranart Jiemjit said, according to the WSJ.

The navy’s solution is to sterilize the population.

Officials previously attempted to castrate the monkeys, however, this tactic upset the social order by causing the females to exclude the sterilized males from the group and instead find another male with which to mate. The monkey population continued to grow, since male monkeys have the capability of mating up to 10 times a day, according to Reuters.

While hunting the monkeys seemed like a viable option, many Thais are devout Buddhists, and they strictly oppose killing the animals, making vasectomies the next best option to comply with religious beliefs.

So far, approximately 280 monkeys have undergone vasectomies, according to the Wall Street Journal. The navy believes vasectomies will be more effective, since this technique does not change social order within the macaque tribe, yet still controls population growth.

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