As macaques increasingly inhabit urban and peri-urban areas across Asia, their welfare is shaped by human-wildlife conflict, provisioning, disease exposure, and persecution — raising complex conservation and ethical questions.
Urban macaques occupy a difficult welfare position — too habituated for forest life but often persecuted in cities. Chronic exposure to human conflict, unpredictable food sources, and disease risk creates ongoing stress. Lethal control causes suffering and rarely solves underlying conflict drivers. Evidence-based non-lethal management, including provisioning site management, hazing to reduce human proximity, and community education, offers more sustainable and welfare-friendly approaches. Protecting remaining forest corridors reduces pressure on urban areas. Recognising macaque intelligence and social complexity is essential for designing ethical management strategies.