For the most part we focus on only helping dogs and to a lessor degree cats in the Krabi region. The opportunity for us to go out of our normal work range happened the other day when in a strange twist of events, a farmer offered to donate 300 kg of bananas to our charity. At first we were thinking that this farmer, who was extremely kind, doesn't know that dogs and cats don't generally eat bananas. Most of them would turn their noses up at such an offer.
Then we got to thinking about how the monkeys, who are also struggling for food at the Tiger Cave Temple, have recently become more aggressive towards one another and to the visitors. It was becoming a problem because temple visitors were being attacked and having their snacks stolen from them. Because of a year and a half of Covid, temples' resources are very low and while in the past they would have provided food for the monkeys, they simply don't have any to offer.
That's what 300kg of bananas looks like
There has been a slight uptick in the amount of visitors and if you are there for just a little while you will almost certainly see someone get jumped on by a monkey and the monkey steals whatever food or drink they have. For the most part this is nothing to worry about unless you resist because even though you would probably win in a fist fight with one of these little guys, they are going to scratch and bite the crap out of you before they run away.
When we offloaded the bananas, we simply put them in baskets and let the monkeys come and get them on their own. It is a very bad idea to try to hand food to a monkey because they look cute, but to them you are a very large threat and they could get the wrong idea and attack you if you make the wrong move. Also, you could find yourself swarmed by a monkeys if you start handing out food. I know that this is not a situation that most people will ever find themselves in but if you do, you should really keep your distance.
There was a bit of a frenzy when we first put the bananas out but the monkeys at the temple quickly realized that there was more than enough food to go around and they didn't need to swarm the way that they did at first. It's pretty remarkable how quickly they learn and all of them quickly grabbed the food then ran off to some safe space in order to eat it.
Even taking this picture is ill-advised as monkeys have been known to grab cameras thinking that it is food and then simply throwing it on the ground from a tree once they figure out that they can't eat it
So this was definitely not something that is in our wheelhouse as far as work is concerned but it was nice to see the monkeys calm down for a bit and have full bellies. Unfortunately this is not something that we are going to be capable of doing on a regular basis because it isn't like we get 300kg of bananas donated to us every week.
It was likely a one off, but we do all that we can to improve the lives of all animals if we have the chance, even though our primary focus remains on dogs.
If you would like to see how you can help out or simply spread the word, please visit our website at
http://krabianimalwelfare.org
Krabi Animal Welfare is a charity run entirely by volunteers and are a registered non-profit organization in Thailand and the U.K.. We aim to relieve the pain and suffering of dogs and cats within Krabi Province.
เป็นผู้สนับสนุนรายเดือนหรือบริจาคครั้งเดียวได้ที่: