Officials investigated for culling monkeys without license in western Japan

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http://asia.news./040903/ap/d84rvm6g0.html

 

Friday September 3, 1:03 PM

Officials investigated for culling monkeys without

license in western Japan

 

Officials in western Japan have admitted to killing at

least nine monkeys in a possible breach of wildlife

laws following complaints that they were destroying

crops and frightening residents, an official said

Friday.

 

Licensed hunters in Shirahama town have killed about

70 monkeys since last year.

 

But town officials appear to have helped them, killing

nine without authorization, said Wakayama prefectural

(state) spokesman Kenji Miyamoto. It wasn't clear how

many officials participated in the killings.

 

A license is required to kill the animals under

wildlife protection laws. Monkeys are relatively

common throughout mountainous areas of Japan, but are

considered an endangered species.

 

Wakayama prefectural (state) officials were

considering whether to press criminal charges,

Miyamoto said.

 

Unlicensed hunting carries a fine of up to 1 million

yen (US$9,000, euro 7,400) or one year imprisonment,

according to Kyodo News agency.

 

The monkeys had increasingly become a nuisance after

escaping from a monkey park that closed down several

years ago, Miyamoto said, adding that they have been

destroying crops and frightening residents.

 

Attacks by monkeys _ usually the native Japanese

macaque _ are not unusual in rural Japan. Officials

often warn people not to feed them as they are known

to bite.