Taiwan student quits university over harassment by monkeys

Mar 31, 2011, 7:58 GMT

Taipei - A Taiwan student quit university Thursday because of harassment by monkeys on campus, a news report said.

'As they're not leaving, I'm leaving,' third-year music student Lee Yi-chen told broadcaster TVBS as she left the campus of National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan.

Wild macaques, a protected species in Taiwan, harass students every day for food at the university, she said.

'They crawl up on my back to snatch food from my hands, sneak into dormitories to steal food, and attack students when they refuse to surrender food,' she said, pointing to scratch marks on her shin.

'I have complained to President Ma Ying-jeou, the city government and school authorities. But there is no solution,' she said.

The university admitted that monkeys pose a problem to students, but their hands are tied by their protected status.

'We have put up signs saying 'Do Not Feed the Monkeys', but there is not much we can do,' a spokeswoman for the university said.

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