Monkey trainers, a dying breed in Isaan
Farmer Pinij Perin and his monkey, which he is offering to sell for Bt13,000 since it can no longer get enough work to pay for its keep.
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The popularity of polyester pillows and of canned and instant coconut milk has hurt business in a village renowned for raising monkeys to collect fruit and coconuts.
Residents of Khok Sida village in Phon Thong district have been forced to sell more than 100 "unemployed" monkeys. Village headman Saman Silthu-sang, 56, said many villagers had sold their monkeys because they could no longer afford the Bt40-50 for their fruit meals because there was less demand for their services - collecting coconuts, betel nuts and kapok - seed pods containing a cotton-like fibre that is used to stuff pillows and mattresses. Khok Sida had been well-known for its trained monkeys, but now only 26 remained, he said. Saman said most monkeys sold for between Bt10,000 and Bt30,000, depending on their skills. Most buyers were seeking to replace other trained monkeys that were getting too old to collect fruit in the Northeast and South. Saman expressed concern that the village could not maintain its monkey-raising tradition, as the young generation preferred to work in factories and at malls instead of training monkeys. Rabeab Donladlee, 53, who has raised fruit-collecting monkeys for 30 years and now has only one, named Sian, recalled how he and his neighbours would sit their pets on the back of bicycles after the rice-growing season and go hiring them out at 50 satang for each coconut the animals fetched. They used to travel in a group on seven- to 10-day trips across the province and to neighbouring provinces, staying at local temples along the way. Each of them could bring home at least Bt3,000, he said, which was a handsome return in those days. But today rural residents have stopped growing coconuts, betel nuts and kapok, as they can easily buy instant coconut milk, polyester pillows and so forth from shopping malls. "The heavier traffic also made it dangerous to ride a bicycle, so we shifted to motorcycles. With jobs getting rarer and the cost of petrol, we now take home less than Bt1,000 or Bt500 for each trip," Rabeab said. Pinij Perin, 44, said that with less work and more expenses, the business was not worth it. He wants to sell his monkey for Bt13,000, "but I'm not sure if anyone will buy - all monkey raisers like us are troubled [by the downturn in our trade]".
Wichit Radapat The Nation ROI ET
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