And with the monkeys now said to be expanding their habitat into the nearby Ichijodani Asakura Family Historic Ruins, a historical site, and Daihonzan Eiheiji temple, the work of the Monkey Busters appears to have only just begun. The diehard resolve of the Monkey Busters to protect not only local crops but local livelihoods has received a lot of praise from the community. “It’s essential for the area to continue working together as one in the future.” “There are many elderly people living in the Miyama area, and the cultivation of fields is vital for their health and well-being,” says Ishimura. However, Ishimura says the animals started to reappear in the middle of July, so they won’t be resting on their laurels just yet. The local Cooperative says the monkeys originally gathered in a group of about 20, but they’ve since disbanded into about four or five groups, making them harder to ward off. The local group effort led by the Monkey Busters has proven to be effective, though, as the monkeys actually disappeared for a period of time. Occasionally, some locals even run after the monkeys with hoes to chase them away. Once on the scene, the Monkey Busters fire a warning shot in the direction of the monkeys, and are often backed up by locals who use firecrackers and loud bellows to further frighten the primates. However, as soon as a sighting is reported, the Monkey Busters are immediately notified and drop everything to rush to the scene with their airguns, often arriving in their aprons as they don’t want to waste a minute in responding. Whenever anyone from the community reports a monkey sighting, it’s usually during the day when the women are in the middle of housework or farming. With scarecrows and anti-animal netting proving to be ineffective at protecting the valuable crops, the three women decided to take matters into their own hands, banding together and arming themselves with airguns in order to scare off the monkeys. They congregate around hot springs in the snowy mountains and you may have seen pictures of these monkeys with snow in their fur. The monkeys, which commonly appear in fields around Miyama in March and are often seen on the right bank of the Asuwa River, have been damaging onion, eggplant, soybean and potato crops in the area since 2015. The Japanese Macaques are furry, pink-faced monkeys that live in Japan and are often called snow monkeys. The three women formed the “Monkey Busters” group in May, after attending a class run by the Cooperative in March which showed locals how to repel monkeys. Photo: Ishimura (74), Tatsuko Kinoshita (68), and Miyuki Ii (67), pictured in the photo above, live in rural Hikariishi Town and belong to the nearby Miyama district branch of the Japan Agricultural Cooperative.
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