Are Taif's mountain monkeys responsible for creating the rockslides on the Makkah to Taif Road (Al-Hada Road) which have resulted in the death of two people in separate car accidents recently – with the one accident as recent as Thursday? This is the perplexing question facing authorities, with some officials saying they do and others rejecting the claim as nonsense. It also appears that there is confusion amongst officials about which government body is meant to deal with allegedly troublesome monkeys. A wildlife research body official said monkeys have nothing to do with the accidents. Ahmad Al-Bouq, Director General of the National Center for Wildlife Research, said the number of monkeys have increased in the area simply because humans feed them. “I have observed them for more than a year and found they do not pose any danger to people and I doubt they cause the falling of rocks.” Captain Ali Al-Malki, Taif Traffic Police spokesman, said rain is the main reason for the rock falls, noting that he cannot say conclusively that monkeys are connected to it. “All we know is that accidents happen because of the falling of rocks,” he said. However, his department has sent a letter to Fahd Bin Muammar, Taif Governor, calling for a solution to the issue of monkeys and “the harm they cause to cars and pedestrians as a result of rock falls”. The traffic police spokesman said the letter to the governor included a request to approach the ministries of agriculture and transport to deal with the pressing issue. A Ministry of Transport official said the rocks fell in an area that has not been developed yet, ruling out that it was caused by defects created in the process of constructing the road. Homoud Al-Tuwarqi, Taif branch director of the Ministry of Agriculture, said controlling monkeys falls within the jurisdiction and responsibility of the wildlife authority. Al-Bouq said that the suggestion of some people to kill the monkeys “is unacceptable in terms of the environment and religion”. Instead, he said, authorities must impose fines on people who feed monkeys on the side of the road.
