A team of officials arrived on the small, round island, which measures just 140 metres across (see map below), yesterday (June 13) along with a handful of private workers hired to install a holding tank for freshwater.
The tank features a press-feed dispenser so that monkeys relocated to the small isle will not be left thirsty.
Leading the work team was Pongchart Chouehorm, Director of the Khao Phra Thaew Natural and Wildlife Education Centre, who has been tasked with coordinating the “wild monkey campaign”.
The campaign is to have specific troupes of wild monkeys across Phuket sterilised or sterilised and relocated in accordance with feedback from local residents living in areas where the growing numbers of wild monkeys has created problems and raised health conerns.
Continuing the campaign yesterday, officals placed cages to catch monkeys near Bang Rong Pier, where already 14 monkeys have been caught.
The 14 monkeys caught there add to the tally of 34 monkeys already caught at Baan Yamu nearby, which will undergo sterilisation in the coming days. (See story here.)
UPDATE: Mr Pongchart and a team of handymen today (June 14) installed a holding tank for freshwater with a press-feed dispenser on Koh Payu, further north along Phuket's east coast (see image gallery), confirming that Koh Payu will be Phuket's second "Monkey Island".
Of note, Koh Payu is directly offshore from the site of the controversial Ao Kung Marina project that Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong has ordered another public feedback meeting to be held on after fears were raised about the extent of environmental damage coral reefs in the area would suffer if the project went ahead. (See story here.)