South-Africa: Monkeys invading Durban hospital to steal fruit
They return again during the afternoon visiting hours, when patients receive food parcels from their relatives. The patients’ lockers at the hospital cannot be closed or locked, apparently making it easy for the monkeys to come in and grab fruit and other food.
A former patient said she watched monkeys come into the wards during her nine-day stay at the hospital. “The monkeys took all my fruit and bags of food. They come in through the window. There is nothing the nurses can do about it,” she said.
Iol.co.za quoted Salome Kisten, a fruit seller outside the hospital, as saying the monkeys were also affecting her business. She has resorted to using water guns to try to keep the monkeys at bay without hurting them.
Steve Smit, co-founder of Monkey Helpline, said they had been in contact with the hospital and planned to meet with its management this week. He said the hospital was in monkey territory, so the primates would always be in the area. Smit was concerned that the monkeys might be in danger of getting sick from eating out of hospital bins that might also be used to dispose of used medical instruments.
