Florida Man Exasperated After Wild Monkeys Invade His Backyard

CDN – http://www.conservativedailynews.com

By Donn Marten

It may seem like a scene from the new Planet of the Apes movie but a Florida man is frustrated over a swarm of monkeys that have invaded his property.

An Ocala resident was startled to discover that dozens of monkeys had been dropping by to eat the food that he had put out to feed deer in his spacious open backyard.

Brian Pritchard has become somewhat exasperated over his uninvited guests but they continue to drop by on a regular basis

Not only were the monkeys coming by uninvited, but they are hostile and possibly carrying disease.

MONKEY INVASION: An Ocala man says monkeys are taking over his backyard! We’re headed out to his property now. Watch @WFTV at 4 & 5. pic.twitter.com/qfLqrxoOjc

— Lauren Seabrook (@LSeabrookWFTV) July 7, 2017

Orlando ABC affiliate WFTV 9 reports “Monkeys swarm Ocala man’s property”:

An Ocala man said monkeys from Silver Springs State Park have invaded his property.

Brian Pritchard lives four miles away from the park, but over the last few days his game camera has taken hundreds of photos of about 50 rhesus macaques eating from a deer feeder in his backyard.

Silver Springs State Park recently shut down two areas because of an increased monkey presence. A family visiting the state park last week recorded a video of the monkeys aggressively chasing them and showing their teeth.

Pritchard had put out a feeder with a camera to catch photos of deer, but instead, he got monkeys.

The rhesus macaques climb up the stand of the feeder and spin the plate to send out enough corn to feed the whole troop.

“They’re vicious. They’re extreme. I mean, they get extremely nasty,” Pritchard said.

The animals have taken more than 250 pounds of deer food in the last few days.

“Obviously the monkeys have it down pat. They don’t have to wait on it. They climb up the poles and they just sit there and spin it off the plate,” Pritchard said.

Researchers estimate 200 non-native macaques live at the park and said many carry the deadly herpes B virus.

Pritchard is convinced hundreds more of the animals are in the area.

“I was standing there, looking out that window and I caught a glimpse of something,” said Pritchard. “I looked and there were 15 of them that came out and they were everywhere. But they kept looking like they could see or hear me in that shed.”

Yup! pic.twitter.com/rCSxdDtJF3

— Lauren Seabrook (@LSeabrookWFTV) July 7, 2017

It’s unknown how the monkeys ended up in the area, they are not an indigenous species although an interesting entry on Wikipedia states:

A colony of rhesus macaques was established around Silver Springs in Florida around the spring of 1938.

The monkeys were released by tour boat operator Colonel Tooey to enhance his Jungle Cruise ride. A traditional story that the monkeys were released for scenery enhancement in the Tarzan movies that were filmed at that location is false, as the only Tarzan movie filmed in the area, 1939’s Tarzan Finds a Son! contains no rhesus macaques, in part because of the species’ bad temperament. The monkeys continue to thrive along the Silver River to this day

Mr. Pritchard could probably eliminate the problem by filling the deer feeder with poison bananas or pellets or simply picking them off one by one with a rifle but that would certainly end up with him in serious trouble with the authorities and animal rights activists.

The article Florida Man Exasperated After Wild Monkeys Invade His Backyard is original content from Conservative Daily News.

CDN – http://www.conservativedailynews.com