Gibraltar monkey comes down from the Rock and colonizes La Línea

One of the famous Barbary macaques, also called monkeys of Gibraltar, has left his domain of the Rock and has crossed the fence into Spain to end up touring part of La Línea. In the morning he was seen perched on the IES Tolosa and Virgen de la Esperanza and in the afternoon, after crossing several rooftops in the neighborhood of Santiago-Conchal-Castillo, ended up in the Pueblo Mediterráneo urbanization, where he was climbing from terrace to terrace under the watchful eye of many onlookers.

The IES Tolosa, where it was first seen, is just two kilometers from the base of the Rock, although the journey has its complications. The monkey, if it had opted for the straight line and had not been moved by someone illegally, would have had to cross the runways of the Gibraltar airport and then several blocks to reach the roof of the Tolosa, where the students were incredulous on Monday.

Members of the National Police, Local Police of La Linea and Seprona tried to capture the macaque, which then prowled another school, the IES Virgen de la Esperanza, also in the Avenida de La Banqueta.

It then moved to the Santiago-Conchal-Castillo neighborhood, where it was roaming the rooftops. Such is the commotion that personnel from the reserve La pequeña África de Jimena and the zoo of Castellar have come to lend a hand, as well as technicians from Gibraltar.

The agents suspect that the primate, an adult male of enormous agility and speed, comes from the colony and that, somehow, it could have decided to cross the fence, according to police sources. However, municipal sources show their surprise at this hypothesis, since it is not common for the monkeys of Gibraltar to leave their habitat. Possibly they will proceed to sedate him and, once they capture him, they will be able to determine his origin.

This monkey with a colonizing spirit and that brings in check the security forces is unleashing a chain of jocular messages in the different social networks. "The monkey is the advance guard of the Brexit agreement demonstrating that there is no fence for him", "He is sending a message through our children: close the Brexit agreement" or "He has anticipated the agreement by which the Gibraltar fence will be eliminated and we will share prosperity, skipping all Schengen controls for British", are some of the jokes circulating this Monday.