Angry residents from Macani village in Kijabe, Lari Constituency have threatened to trap and kill monkeys invading their farms and harassing women.
They primates have destroyed crops in farms and have been harassing anyone in a dress or a skirt.
“We feel they fear men and we are now forced to wear trousers to look like men. Anyway, who wants to be followed by monkeys making loud noises?” said Lydia Njeri as quoted by the Star.
She said they are always in troops of about 20 to 30 monkeys.
Charles Kimani, a farmer in Kijabe decried massive losses since the monkeys got into his farm.
“You cannot see a fruit, maize, beans, peas, vegetable, carrots, spinach, potatoes or sweet potatoes in our farms. They have been eaten by the monkeys,” he said.
“I sold my cows since the primates eat the feed we grow for cattle. They destroy them while eating. At times when you feed them [cattle] with commercial feed, they [monkey] come to our zero grazing and grab it.”
He said their plea to Kenya Wildlife Services to cushion the situation has not yielded much.
“We call the KWS and they respond, but they have never trapped even one monkey. They are aware of our problem. We are left wondering where we are headed,” lamented Kimani.
Kimani said the monkeys are from the nearby Kijabe and Ngubi forests.
They have been forced out of the forest to farms due to hunger.
The residents threatened to trap and kill them as they are not getting any help from KWS.
However, a KWS officer said they will address the situation.
Another farmer, Nancy Nduta plaintively said her 5-acre farm where he had planted maize was invaded by the monkeys and her crops destroyed.
By Pharis Kinyua. He’s an online Journalist and an author for Jamhuri News