No we are not talking about the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream flavor, but a serious issue facing officials at the Omaha Park in Osaka, Japan. Thanks to the incessant (constant) feeding of junk food by tourists, monkeys residing here have become obese.

The normal weight of the Macaca mulatta monkeys who live in the wild is about 22lbs.  At the Omaha Park however, a third of the fifty monkeys that live here weigh a lot more than that, ranging from 32 lbs to the heaviest one that now weighs 55 lbs. This male monkey is so overweight and so hooked onto junk food that all he does is shuffle around the park all day and beg for food!

These poor monkeys are suffering because tourists think it is okay to feed them with not only bananas, but also junk food like potato chips, bread and even cookies!

The monkeys have been placed on a strict diet and officials at the park have now installed "no feeding" signs like the one above, all over the park. However, it seems people still ignore them and continue to feed the monkeys. In order to combat this problem officials are thinking of putting a fence around the area where the monkeys reside.

We think it is really sad that people would do this kind of harm to wild animals just to be entertained! What do you think?  Be sure to add your comments below.

Sources: Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail