Barbary macaques are raiding bins and creating a nuisance so Blair Drummond near Stirling has offered them a new home

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Thirty of Gibraltar’s most troublesome monkeys are to be banished to Scotland, in a bid to reduce the disruption the animals cause.

The wild Barbary macaques will be flown to Blair Drummond safari park near Stirling on Tuesday as part of an effort to tackle the monkey business affecting local residents.

Gibraltar has Europe’s only wild population of monkeys. While they are a tourist attraction, their numbers have risen to about 200 and some have started raiding rubbish bins in search of food and creating a nuisance.

The 30 naughtiest monkeys were identified by tagging the animals with GPS collars to monitor how far they ranged from their home on a nature reserve.

Those macaques were caught in recent weeks and will be flown to Scotland on a chartered plane accompanied by two handlers.

John Cortes, Gibraltar’s environment minister, said: “It is sad to see them go, but they will be going to an excellent home and it is so much better than culling them. We don’t consider them exiled. We consider them as ambassadors.”

The safari park has built a large enclosure for the monkeys that features trees, a large rocky mound for climbing and an enclosed heated area.

Craig Holmes, head of the park’s macaque section, said the aim was to make their lives as natural as possible.

Although temperatures in Scotland will be lower than in Gibraltar, Barbary macaques are highly adaptable and often live at high altitudes in their natural environment in north Africa, said Eric Shaw, the head of Gibraltar’s monkey management team.

Gibraltar announced plans in January to banish some of its monkeys but did not say how many would be exported nor their destination until the agreement with the safari park was reached.

Authorities said at the time that they wanted to avoid a cull similar to the one carried out five years ago after a rogue pack of monkeys tore through town, vandalising hotel rooms and looting bins.

Shaw said the 11 males and 19 females were not to blame. “The problem is that we are encroaching on their territory and we have to understand that we share this rock with wild animals.”

The oldest in the group was 20 while the three youngest monkeys were just six months old. They form a close-knit family group and catching them proved difficult, Shaw said.

Feeding the monkeys is illegal in Gibraltar and anyone doing so can be fined. Officials say that the macaques are best viewed from a distance.

It is thought that the creatures were introduced to Gibraltar from Africa in the 18th century by British soldiers.