Launceston’s City Park will become monkey-free within the next two decades after the local council voted to sterilise the males in its captive macaque troop.
The long-tailed monkeys have called an enclosure in the CBD park home for more than four decades.
They were received as a gift from Sister City Ikeda in Japan in 1981 and have been linked with Launceston ever since.
Councillors made the decision to prevent breeding among the animals due to concerns about genetic diversity and the possibility of inbreeding at a meeting on Thursday.
Councillor Andrew Dawkins, who is also the CEO of RSPCA Tasmania, said the community has a lot of interest in the monkeys.
“To have wild animals like these apart of our lives is extraordinary for a community like Launceston and perhaps one that, if we were offered this opportunity now, we wouldn’t say yes to,” she said.
“We’re not saying today this is over forever, that could have been the only option and at one point that was the only option and I’m so pleased it’s not.”
“I hope that the people of Launceston understand that we’ve only got the best interest of the macaque monkeys at heart.”
The sterilisation procedures will begin immediately, with the monkeys expected to live out the rest of their lives in the park.
