Takoradi Monkey's On Boozing Spree

It has now become common in the Takoradi metropolis to see drunken monkeys wobbling across streets or walking into set traps.

This uncommon spectacle is the result of a new method poachers in the Monkey Hill, an exclusive reserve for monkeys at Takoradi, have adopted. They get the animals drunk by feeding them on bananas laced with akpeteshie, thus making it easy to trap them.

The action of the poachers is strongly fuelled by the fact that monkeys are a delicacy in some areas of the Western Region, while the demand for them by tourists is high.

According to Mr Jacob Oti-Awere, Western Regional Manager of the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB), the indiscriminate drugging and killing of the monkeys has reduced the once highly populated monkey family to 70.

He said the situation calls for concerted efforts on the part of stakeholders and residents around the Monkey Hill community to prevent the wiping out of the endangered Olive Colubus and African Green Monkeys in the reserve.

Other animals like civet cats (Abrebie), monitor lizards (Mampam), rare birds and many other endangered species are affected. Mr Oti-Awere said the action of the poachers flies directly in the face of the Monkey Hill Ecotourism Project which aims at capitalising on the unique location of the reserve in the heart of Takoradi. The project is a collaborative effort between the GTB, Friends of the Nation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) and other stakeholders.

It is estimated that the project when completed will generate an initial revenue of over ?200 million a year for the metropolis.

Currently donors in Finland and the Netherlands are considering funding the project with 60,000 Euros. Mr Oti-Awere emphasised that the use of drugs to trap monkeys and other animals in the reserve is alarming.

He said he has personally arrested poachers who trap and kill birds in the reserve and handed them over to the police for investigation and prosecution.

According to him, on March 9, this year, he, together with the Executive Director of Friends of the Nation, Mr Donkris Meta, arrested a poacher who offered a monitor lizard to them for sale. They subsequently handed him over to the police.

Mr Oti-Awere observed that the development partners of the Monkey Hill project are worried about the illegal activities of the poachers and appealed to the public to assist the police to arrest them.