Farmers in Kenya are having a hard time sharing their land with wild monkeys:

Running out of options, residents are harvesting their crops early in an attempt to salvage what they can of this year’s crop.

Unfortunately, this only invites the monkeys to break into their homes and steal the harvested crops out of their granaries.

Even the formation of a “monkey squad” to keep track of the monkeys’ movements and keep them out has failed.

The BBC points out in their report that the monkeys are accused of harassing women and children and making offensive gestures.

While it makes for a cute tangent to the story, I am more curious about specific methods are being used to secure the crops. Stealing the grain from their homes? Are monkey-proof granaries really that costly?

Similar to the problem with livestock and wolves/coyotes in America, I suspect there is a lot of myth and hype about the threats that interfere with finding more sensible and lasting control solutions. At least the Kenyan government forbids killing the monkeys.