The Case of the Crazy Monkey

Today I got a note from the facility manager I replaced here in Oslo. He is now in Sri Lanka and tells this story of pest management.

The Case of the Crazy Monkey

Pest management is a big issue for us, every kind of pest you can imagine gets in to our embassy and houses. Ants, snakes, rats, mice, termites, pole cats, roaches, mosquitos. The problem is that most of my guys are Buddhists and they don’t want to kill anything. I have even seen them moving ants one by one from the front office.

Last week a mad monkey got in to the embassy through a small opeing in the trash room. From there he got to the machine room and then to the ceiling of the basement. The hunt was on for the entire LFG, FM, motorpool, etc trying to chase this monkey around the ceiling all over for 2 days. The monkey eventually went up a riser to 4th floor. Hundreds of man hours were dedicated to the hunt.

Finally we opened up a ventillation duct and lured him in with bananas. Just as we were releasing him to the outsiude by opening an exhaust fan on the roof, the wildlife scientist finally showed with his tranquilizer gun.

Monkey gets shot inside the fan, escapes from the net, and runs around very angry on the roof.

Then monkey goes to the outside wall and gets sleeepy. He loses conciousness and falls off of 4th floor roof. AC tech standing by on the ground with a big net catches monkey and saves his life. Monkey is released to the wild after a few days rest.

-Facility Manager - Sri Lanka

What a crazy job. I love it. Right now I worry about snow, cold houses, and clean buildings, but I look forward to a little excitement like this at some point.