St. Kitts and Nevis, Tourists and Monkeys
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Trapper Joe Cabey, "Monkey Joe", stands in the forest near one of the areas where he sets his chicken wire traps, June 21, 2002, to catch vervet monkeys, outside of Basseterre, the capital city of St. Kitts. Monkey Joe has been trapping monkeys for nearly twenty years while also running his nearby farm. He sells the monkeys to the island's research facilities. He uses bait (sugar cane) to attract the monkeys and frightens them into a funnel at the bottom of the chicken wire cage. Monkey Joe sits in a "blind" or hut near the top of a caged area. Once the dominant male vervet monkey enters the cage, Monkey Joe will wait for other monkeys to join before rushing out forcing the monkeys to run into the funnel. St. Christopher, as St. Kitts is formally known, was named after Christopher Columbus who first visited the volcanic island in 1493. The British and French fought over the island ever since the British settled in 1623. Sugar cane was planted soon after and became the island's main export and resulted in the importation of slave labor. The island is home to thousands of African vervet monkeys. Locals estimate the monkey population is nearly double the island's human population of 40,000. The monkeys were first brought over by the British as pets and soon escaped. Monkey trappers scour the island attempting to trap the green vervet monkeys. Many monkeys are sold to a Yale University supported laboratory situated in a restored sugar mill. Yale's St. Kitts Biomedical Research Foundation uses the monkeys in stem cell research, Parkinson's disease research, alcoholism, epilepsy, gene therapy and neurodegenerative disorders. A green vervet monkey can sell for up to $500 USD to overseas laboratories. Yale's St. Kitts Biomedical Research Foundation pays trappers $50-$150 depending on specific requirements for research. Local farmers bitterly complain the vervet monkeys ruin their crops and devour mangoes, cashews, and sweet potatoes.
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