Monkey trouble.

An astonishing article I read in The Scotsman (my preferred source for international news) today:

Monkeys ape sex harassment
MARGARET NEIGHBOUR

A GANG of monkeys are sexually harassing women in Kenya, according to reports yesterday.

Women in the village of Nachu trying to protect their crops from a band of about 300 monkey raiders said that the animals were afraid of men but not women and would occasionally attack them.

But they also make sexually explicit gestures in a bizarrely intelligent form of communication. "The monkeys grab their breasts and gesture at us while pointing at their private parts. We are afraid that they will sexually harass us," Lucy Njeri said.

The vervet monkeys have been causing serious problems for villagers by eating corn, beans, potatoes and other crops.

The women have tried to trick the monkeys into believing they were men to scare them off, but without success.

"When we come to chase the monkeys away, we are dressed in trousers and hats, so that we look like men," Ms Njeri said.

"But the monkeys can tell the difference and they don't run away from us and point at our breasts. They just ignore us and continue to steal the crops."

The problems have become so severe that the farming community is receiving famine relief and the situation was raised in the Kenyan Parliament by MP Paul Muite.

He called for the Kenyan Wildlife Service to intervene to help bring the monkey problem under control.

But Mr Muite said some other MPs in the chamber had laughed when they heard the monkeys were apparently mocking the village's women.

Link to this article: http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1351502007

This renders me speechless.