I’ve become invested in one of the most bizarre story in the region & my friends don’t share in my fascination so Twitter come

So St Kitts & Nevis is having a Monkey problem & last night, Dec 3, the gov Monkey Task Force did a Monkey Shooting Hunt

Let me tell u how we got here

So the green monkeys, cause of their hue at certain height, were brought to St. Kitts in the 17th century as exotic pets to colonizers... white British. Still the monkeys fed on fermented sugar cane (slavery plantations) & became drunk alot & so become very frisky & populate

Fast forward to 21st century and literally monkeys are all over the island of St. Kitts. UN projections (I checked, again I’m invested) shows that over 60000 green monkeys are on the island.

St. Kitts & Nevis have roughly 55,000 ppl in the country.... SO IMAGINE

But the monkeys were thriving business for the economy. Two ways: tourism cause the tourist will come and play with them cause they roam the areas & this also cause issues cause the drunk “accustomed” monkeys from slavery days would feed on liquor left by the tourist

And two: the monkeys serve as big export revenues for the country of St. Kitts & Nevis because the US, who were the main importers of the green monkeys from the country, would use thousands of these monkeys as test subjects for products, and medicines... a whole mess

Still, the monkey population was getting out of controlled & it got worse cause the monkeys were getting drunker and ventured out of forested & tourist areas and into suburban areas and started harassing residents & stealing from properties & causing chaos for domestic creatures

Then farmers got thrown into the mix cause these monkeys would come on their farms & steal their crops which affects their yield & that came with plenty economic and domestic problems. Agriculture Ministry said the monkeys have damage around 100 metric tones of food each year

So in the past years the government of St. Kitts tried ways to deal with the growth of monkeys on the island so they ask more people to do the obvious: eat the little creatures. So Tree Stew, or Tree Mutton which is is a popular delicacy in the country... it’s stewed monkey

Still eating them wasn’t solving the issue. The growth of monkeys have become so rapid that some sources have them out-populating humans 2:1 in the country. So here we are in January 2020 & the government decided to create yes: A MONKEY TASK FORCE

So is like covid escalate the situation further and these monkeys just were doing a lot. Now tourist arrivals decline, less crowded spaces so they are free to roam all over the island, especially farms. So the Monkey Task Force was to control these pests... now December came now

And the government of St. Kitts is like “this can’t go on any longer” so they announced a Monkey Shooting Hunt this week: a Manisport initiative where several shooters would be to get rid of monkeys in targeted areas. Like literally, they have resorted to shooting them.

Like it sound crazy but the government issue a warning to farmers in Newton Ground & Belmont Mountain surrounding areas:

“All farmers in these areas are asked if they are not attending the Monkey control meeting are also asked to stay away from their farms during this period”

So yesterday, Dec 3, 2020, the task force headed by Winston Morena, went on a shooting spree for couple hours which the target was to take out at least a 100 monkeys. Humans armed with large guns are venturing into forested areas

So bright & early yesterday Thursday morning between the hours of 6 am to 12 noon, you had ppl with guns going out shooting these creature like when I say gunshot to the brains; target practice on these high alcohol limited, usually drunk, little mammals. TARGET PRACTICE

Now you would feel like the whole population would be like “yeow, this is inhumane, why you shooting them?” But I venture over St. Kitts socials media Facebook & some of these citizens are FED UP. Like ppl were like yeow “kill them & mek dawg food”

The Task Force also said that moving forward they would set up traps on farms to capture the monkeys so they could be taken to the monkey farm & they will do what they do. Others will go to Ministry of Agriculture & they do what they do but... the shooting squad will continue

So while we sit & wait for the official numbers of yesterday kill to come in, just take a second to digest the fact that in St. Kitts & Nevis we arel living in the movie that is the prequel of “Planet of the Monkeys”

So if this escalate any further... I am blaming European colonization & imperialism ... as usual. That’s my go to answer for everything that’s wrong with in the Caribbean region

While you here... if you are interested in Jamaican History (we go egional sometimes). I am host of the Lest We Forget podcast which is a historical podcast which details Caribbean stories. Can click the link in my bio or follow these ppl @tenementyaad_

I hear I’m funny

Most recent episodes on The Walter Rodney Riots and Jamaica PM Micheal Manley banning Jamaica from Miss Word but Jamaica end up winning either way. And Season 1, regional episode is on the Trinidad Coup of 1990 so can check those out

And sign this petition please https://twitter.com/tenementyaad_/status/1328846911470759937