I grew up in Westville – and we always had monkeys come into our garden. They got the dogs excited – stole our avo’s and other fruit… and occasionally tricked the dogs and managed to bypass them and get them into the house. I don’t really remember much else about them from that time – oh except the day my dog managed to get close to one – and got her ear bitten. A couple of expensive vet bills later – and she’s perfectly fine!

Then I moved to Jo’burg. I lived there for a couple of years. We had birds in the garden (mostly doves, pigeons, and sparrows – but occasionally some local species) – but other than my cats and dogs – that was it as far as any wild animals were concerned.

Now I’ve moved back to Durban and have bought a house in Durban North – which flanks some empty land on a rather steep hill. We have massive indigenous trees, and a fairy indigenous garden which is awesome. The bird life and the bug life are incredible! I don't know that I ever go into the garden without seeing butterflies! It’s amazing.

And almost every day (OK sometimes we’ll go a couple of days without seeing them) we have monkeys in our garden.  Having lived in Jo’burg without anything like this – I love seeing them in my garden! Yes they disrupt the dogs and drive them crazy… and the dogs in turn drive me crazy while I’m trying to work, running up and down barking until they are a little hoarse! Yes the monkeys have led to the destruction of vast sections of the garden – not directly – but by channelling the energy of my dogs! And yes – we have a vegetable patch – and other than some herbs, and celery – the monkeys have taken 90% of the produce! Plans are afoot to put up a structure to stop the monkeys from gaining access to all of the food we’re trying to grow!  It’ll be fantastic when it’s up – so that we actually get the butternut that are ripening in the garden, so that we can eat all of the pawpaws, tomatoes, and everything else growing in the garden.

The monkeys are a bit of an irritation at times I’ll admit it. But wow! We live in 2012 – in a hugely populated urban environment – and we have wild monkeys running through the trees. They navigate roofs, walls, electric fences, telephone cables, roads, security gates, massive dogs, small dogs, horrible people and nice people!

Recently in the local newspaper – there was an article about several monkeys having been shot with pellet guns – and needing medical assistance because they were hurt. They had to be put down. Then again some more. Then a wonderful local woman offered a R10,000 reward to anyone providing information on who was shooting the monkeys.

This week – when my local paper arrived – I couldn’t have been more horrified. In addition to more monkeys having been found shot with pellet guns, there are letters to the editor of the paper complaining about – not only the monkeys – but the monkey supporters who are offering up rewards for monkeys (he referred to them as vermin) rather than putting her money to a good cause! The man claims to be an animal lover – but thinks that the monkeys should rather live in a zoo, a reserve or the wild – all of which he claims are not where he lives!

I choose to live in Durban because it’s by the sea. I choose to live in Durban because it’s wild and tropical, and there is actually life left here. I can see monkeys in my own back yard! How incredible is that? And not only monkeys – there are genets, and mongoose! There are amazing birds, fish eagles soaring in the sky above, and purple crested louries playing in the trees. I have dogs and cats – and yet still – I have these amazing creatures coming into my garden! It’s incredible! Amazing! I marvel at how these awesome creatures have adapted to live with people!

If only people would learn to adapt to living with them – rather than expelling them to some reserve!

If only people would think about what we’re doing to this planet – and how destructive people actually are! We are killing off the wild bit by bit and one day we’ll have nothing left. In this day and age – where we are reminded all of the time to conserve water, to recycle, to save energy – shouldn’t we be celebrating any wild life that comes into our cities and decides that they will stay! Shouldn’t we be treating them with respect!

I think the Durban open space system (previously DMOSS) is the most wonderful idea ever! Green areas all over the show for wildlife to have little pockets of wild! If only we’d thought about it sooner – and limited the development areas, providing huge open areas for wild to thrive!

I get irritated with the monkeys now and then. Especially when the butternut was just started to ripen and was almost ready to be picked, and the mangos, and the tomatoes, and everything else they’ve taken. But I cannot imagine getting to a point where I would actually shoot at the monkeys. These pellet guns are killing the monkeys. The pellets are passing through their skin and into their vital organs. I cannot imagine getting to a point where I would suggest that it would be better if the monkeys were not in Durban! I have possibly reached a point where I would suggest that Durban would be better off without certain residents (specifically Mr Mike Ladell of Durban North for his letter to the editor of the Northglen News entitled ‘Monkey haters – join the club’). Mr Ladell it’s not the monkeys that are terrorising people – it’s people terrorising the monkeys!

I would like to tell the people of the Monkey Helpline what a wonderful job they are doing! (if anyone needs to get hold of them they can do so here – Steve at Monkey Helpline 082 659 4711 or Carol 082 411 5444 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )