{"id":21705,"date":"2022-10-25T16:08:42","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T14:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=68838"},"modified":"2022-10-25T16:23:17","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T14:23:17","slug":"mark-carwardine-we-need-to-learn-to-live-alongside-dangerous-animals","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/mark-carwardine-we-need-to-learn-to-live-alongside-dangerous-animals\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Carwardine: we need to learn to live alongside dangerous animals"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Mark Carwardine\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 25 October 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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In July 2022, the authorities in the city of Yamaguchi, western Japan, killed a macaque<\/a> they believe was responsible for a spate of attacks on humans.<\/p>\n

No fewer than 56 people had been attacked by marauding gangs of macaques in the previous month. Most of the injuries were mild scratches and bites, but officials decided to take action when a troop of the stocky primates pounced on a 4-year-old girl in her kindergarten.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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We are hopeless when it comes to potentially dangerous animals. <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
Although the story made headlines around the world, it\u2019s not really news \u2013 about 25,000 macaques are killed by municipal authorities every year (hunting them is still illegal). And human-monkey conflicts are commonplace in many parts of Asia, a region with billions of people and a plethora of native macaque species.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t have the same problem in the UK, of course, but in spite of that we are utterly hopeless when it comes to potentially dangerous animals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Why are there so few female wildlife photographers?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
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A few years ago, there was a hoo-ha in Bristol when a family of urban foxes<\/a> set up home in the grounds of a local hospital. When they were spotted \u201cgetting too close\u201d to the open windows of the maternity unit, NHS bosses instructed a pest control company to kill them. What on earth did they think was going to happen? Thankfully, thousands of patients (many of whom had enjoyed watching the family from their hospital beds), staff and local residents strongly disagreed and, after a battle, the foxes were given a well-deserved reprieve.<\/p>\n
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