Workshop at the University on "Baboon's problems in the Kingdom."
The first session of the workshop on "baboon's problems in Saudi Arabia and ways of treatment" is being launched today. The two-day workshop is organized by the Saudi Commission for Wildlife, in cooperation with King Khalid University (KKU), and is taking place in the Central Stands of the University City, in Abha.
The coordinator of the workshop, who is also the Director of the Prince Saud Al-Faisal Center for Wildlife Research in Taif, Mr. Ahmed Albook, used the occasion to emphasize that "the workshop reviews all the researches and studies related to this problem, from the behavioral, environmental, and pathological point of views, in addition to ways of treatment". He explained, "The problem of baboons is divided into two parts, the first part is about its impact on the agricultural sector, and the second part is the municipal sector, such as cities, villages, roads, and the range of wastes which are points of attraction for those monkeys." He added, "baboons problems are a disturbing subject that should be discussed in order to find solutions, as those monkey groups are found to stretch from the Saudi-Yemeni border, through the Sarawat mountains, down to Al-Akhal Valley, which is a distance of 150 kilometers south of Medina." He continued, "We hope that this workshop comes out with useful recommendations to reduce monkeys' problems, and to clarify the size of the problem, its dimensions, diversity, and modern scientific methods to eliminate it."
The workshop is attended by several Saudi universities and relevant ministries. The first day will witness a lecture on monkey's problem in Saudi Arabia, and its dimensions, to be provided by Mr. Ahmed Albook, in addition to another lecture by Dr. Abdulaziz Aqeeli, which addresses the common diseases between human and wildlife (Corona as a model). Prof. Dr. Nabil Zahid is going to present a lecture on common parasitic diseases between humans and apes. In turn, Professor Al-Shahrani will presents a lecture entitled "baboons and the environment in Asir", and Dr Haytham Niazi will present a lecture too; it will be on the widespread and repeated problems resulting from the proliferation of baboons in the mountains of Sarawat in the Kingdom, in addition to a lecture on the problems of monkeys reflection on the agricultural sector, to be provided by a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture.
