30 Gib apes shipped off to Scotland for too much monkey business

Sour gr-apes: 30 Barbary macaques have been shipped off to Scotland for bad behaviour

A threat greater than being forced to pose for ill-advised photos with sunburnt tourists awaits the famous Barbary apes of Gibraltar – they could be shipped off to Scotland if they continue to monkey around.

Already, 30 of the Rock’s worst offenders – the pick-pocketers, the bin rummagers, the tourist botherers – have been sent to the Blair Drummond Safari Park, near Stirling, and more could follow if they don’t clean up their act, warn Gibraltar authorities…

This is the first mass-exportation of Gibraltar’s most famous inhabitants – thought to have stowed across from North Africa on merchant ships centuries ago – since the ‘90s, when a congress (yep, that’s the collective noun for a group of apes) of Barbary macaques were sent packing to various safari parks across Europe.

This latest shipment is an attempt by Gibraltarian authorities to control the population of the apes, which has been growing in recent years. By removing some of the most mischievous monkeys, authorities hope that some of the younger, more impressionable ones will grow up to be much better behaved than their parents, aunts and uncles.

“This was the group that was giving us the most problems,” said Gibraltar’s environment minister John Cortes. “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 wish our monkeys a safe journey and happy future in Scotland.”

After monitoring their movements for months, the Rock’s environmental agency identified 19 females and 11 males as the chief troublemakers. Their journey northward still leaves around 200 apes remaining on the Rock, and one can be sure that these guys will be going nowhere – superstition has it that The Rock will cease to be British if the macaques are no more… one also wonders, rather mischieviously, whether the Spanish have cottoned on to this theory yet?

Nigel has been returned to his British owner, complete with new language skills

In other tenuous-Spanish-animal-related news, an African Grey parrot called Nigel has been returned to his British owner in California after being missing for four years… the only problem is, Nigel now speaks Spanish.

When he went missing in 2010, his appropriately named owner Darren Chick – a Brit living in California – said that he spoke English with an impeccable British accent. But now, after being microchipped and returned to his rightful owner, the bird can’t help but ask ‘¿Que pasa?‘ to any passing humans, and apparently keeps enquiring about the whereabouts of a man named Larry.

It’s a strange, but rather heartwarming story, and just goes to prove – in the right circumstances, learning to speak Spanish is eminently doable!