Kawanan Monkey 'Jalan-jalan' Di Permukiman Warga Kota Bandung, BBKSDA Jabar: Bukan Dari Hutan, Disuga Dipelihara

Screenshot of a monkey's video roaming the residential area of Bandung City, West Java. (ANTARA/Twitter/@1Khan_7)

The West Java Center for Natural Resources Conservation (BBKSDA) suspects that the monkeys that roam in several residential areas in Bandung City, West Java, do not come from the forest. Head of the Division of Planning, Protection, and Control of BBKSDA West Java, Rifki M Sirojan, said the locations visited by the wild monkeys were around the city. So according to him, it is impossible for the monkey to travel far from the forest. "Not from the forest, because our forest is at the foot of Mount Mangliding far away, especially since there are roads, settlements, it is impossible," Rifki said when contacted in Bandung, West Java, Antara, Wednesday, November 30. He suspects that the monkeys escaped from their cages or were deliberately released by their owners. Because, he said, so far the case of monkeys roaming the urban areas was caused by their escape from their cages. "From the forest, it usually only becomes pests in banana plantations, plants, vegetables, such as in Tahura Dago, when they go to settlements, but are blocked. In the city, monkeys are usually kept," he said. According to him, the monkey that roams in a number of settlements in Bandung City is a long-tailed monkey with the Latin name Macaca Fascicularis. In the Greater Bandung area, the monkey's habitat is in the forest at the foot of Mount Mangliding, the Dago Grand Forest Park (Tahura), Mount Malabar, to the forest in the Ciwidey area. He said there were four monkeys roaming the residential area. His party also coordinated with the Bandung City Fire and Disaster Management Service to prepare a trap cage to evacuate the monkey. "If it's near the forest, it doesn't need to be caught, it's just blocked. But in the city it must be caught, use a trap cage or net, even if we have to use anesthetics," said Rifki. A few days earlier, a video circulated on social media regarding a herd of wild monkeys that had gone down to residential areas. The monkeys were seen roaming the streets of residents and rising to the roofs of residents' houses in the city of Bandung.