Gibraltar authorities say they will kill 25 monkeys annoying and endangering people at this British colony's tourism areas, a move that has angered conservationists.

Gibraltar tourism minister Ernest Britto made the decision to cull the Barbary macaques because the monkeys enter and ransack rooms of hotels in Catalan Bay and Sandy Bay looking for food. The Belfast Telegraph also quoted the minister as saying that the apes frighten children and their bites can cause salmonella and hepatitis infection.

The International Primate Protection League based in Britain responded by calling on British tourists to avoid Gibraltar if the culling is not stopped.

The Barbary macaques inhabit the Rock's upper reaches and the government feeds and looks after the animals. But 25 of the monkeys descended to the tourism areas for food.