TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Formosan macaques in the mountains of Chiayi County have developed a fondness for locally grown coffee, even going so far as to incorporating berries into their diet to the dismay of farmers.

The situation has gotten so bad that Lin Chi-li (林季李), a coffee grower and proprietor of Jing Ding Coffee & Tea in Meishan Township, Longyan Village, said their harvest is just coffee already picked over by macaques. Lin said he feels powerless to prevent them, per CNA.

According to Lin, monkeys feast not only on red coffee berries but also chew on immature green coffee berries. After having a good feed, they leave the remnants of the coffee berries, including coffee beans, scattered over the ground.

The Chiayi Agriculture Department said only non-lethal means can be used to control Formosan macaques. The three general methods of control include expulsion, fencing, and trapping. The county government provides subsidies for sound repellants, electric fences, and anti-monkey nets as trapping is only allowed in areas where macaques pose a threat to public safety.

Farmers fed up with macaques can seek assistance through the Agriculture Department’s Animal Science and Conservation Section. Macaques are not only fond of coffee but also other high-value crops such as lotus root, persimmons, avocados, mangoes, and bamboo shoots.

Faced with macaques who have developed a coffee habit, one local coffee farmer has developed his own strategy based upon the popular Chinese idiom of “killing the chickens to scare the monkey.” He put this ancient knowledge into practice by hanging two toy orangutans upside down in his coffee orchard.