As far as monkeys go, I hate the things.  I suspect some of my hatred comes from movies and tv.  The Nazi spy monkey betrayed Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and that sort of thing makes an impression on a kid.  And I saw something on tv that involved a person trapped in a lab with a psychotic chimp, though I can't remember any more than that other than it scared the crap out of me.  And then you hear news stories about some woman's pet chimp ripping her face off, and I've come to the conclusion that monkeys, chimps, baboons, etc. are a blight on the world.

I don't remember that scene from Raiders and I just saw it again about a month or so ago.

I remember a news story from a couple years or so ago where there was some place where monkeys were stealing people's dogs and dropping them off rooftops to kill them.  And I'm thinking, if some monkey killed my dog, that monkey is dead.  And if there is a whole group of monkeys killing dogs, every last one of those monkeys is going to be dead.

Science says that ancient climate change made North America too cold and inhospitable for non-human primates and that's why there are no longer any monkeys in North America and they haven't returned because they would have to pass through deserts and other inhospitable climates to get back here.  Maybe that's true, but maybe the monkeys also know Americans aren't going to put up with any monkey business and if they come here thinking they're going to start stuff, they're going be finished rather quick.

This summer, I had a problem with ants getting into my cat's food on his counter.  I cleaned their paths to no effect.  I used lemon and vinegar and all the various tricks that were supposed to deter or get rid of ants.  Nothing worked.  I don't like to kill unless necessary, but it become necessary because they were all over his food and it limited his eating time as he could only eat before the ants got to it.

Then I took inspiration from the Roman Empire, I think.  I killed and beheaded ants and scattered the bodies near the edge of the counter where I believed they were coming up.  I figured that might send a message to the ants.

They continued to come, so I continued killing ants, beheading them and scattering the heads and bodies on the edge of the counter.

After a few days, they apparently got the message.  No more ants on the counter.  And they've not been back even after I cleaned up the bodies.

I'm thinking the same sort of strategy could work with monkeys.

     You do feel like strangling them when they eat all your almost ripe fruit and veg, but then you see an injured/limping one and feel sorry for it. We have a monkey helpline that rescues and rehabilitates injured monkeys.

On the ant saga. I wrote a story about our ant experience. After several skirmishes it resulted in 'The Great Ant War' when my husband awoke at three a.m. with burning feet. As consciousness surfaced he realised it was something more than gout. ANTS!  His feet and legs were alive with the tiny black creatures. So was the bed. It was like an Alfred Hitchc*ck  "The Revenge of the Ants."
They turned out to be an alien species - an omnivorous Argentine variety - the pitbulls of the ant world and they bite! I chanced upon a fellow sufferer. They had nearly devoured her husband during the night, leaving him with an eye infection. The doctor was unconvinced that ants could have caused the inflamed puncture wounds. We were united in our nightmare.

The story was published locally and I included it in "Something to Read on the Plane." I turned many of my calamities into humorous stories 

Okay... that spider that ate her mate and the stinkbug?  Well, she caught a lightning bug yesterday, and today I saw her wrapping up a fly.  I swear she must be the Rambo of spiders.  She's single-handedly annihilating the flying insect population. 

I think I'm going to name her Vasquez.   

Interesting to learn about the animal life in other countries.

We are still trying to thwart the vervet monkeys getting into my compost bin. Each time we think we've outsmarted them they prove too clever. They can reach in through the holes and pull out fruit skins etc, so now I leave the skins in larger pieces, but they still manage to get some apple peel out. We've tried various lids (it has to be one I can lift with one hand and dump the peelings etc in). The bin top has a ridge so they couldn't slide it off - we thought. We put a heavy paver on top, but the big male somehow managed to get it off.  I put a hook and wire to keep it down, but that didn't work. I made the wire into a hinge, but they flipped if off. Today they even managed to tip the whole bin over (it was half full) so now I've tied it to the fence. 

They work as a team and while you are busy chasing them others sneak inside and raid your fruit bowl or take your bread. They are not afraid of the dogs either. You know there are monkeys close by when you hear someone yelling, "GET OUT!" 

Jeff, I'm enjoying your observations and musings about the Joro spiders. They are beautiful. I also enjoy sitting out on my porch and watching various critters. My cats too