In the foothills of Japan's Northern Alps, people are chasing monkeys. Wearing bright orange vests, the humans ring bells, blow whistles and hit rocks and trees with walking sticks as they walk. Using GPS trackers, they follow the monkeys' movements and send radio messages to let others know when they're close to an animal. The aim is to push the monkeys back into the mountains and away from farms and homes. The monetary damage caused by monkeys is relatively minor, compared to losses from boar, deer and crows. But the monkeys are increasingly a bother for people on farms and in neighborhoods near the mountains. They break into homes, steal food and ruin crops. In the city of Azumino, a monkey-chasing squad has been put together. This squad includes about 50 paid, part-time workers who try to control the monkeys. "We're just returning them to where they're supposed to be," said Masaya Miyake, who leads the squad. "Naturally, the food in the village is more nutritious and tastier. They're not simply being mischievous; they're just coming down to eat." The squad works all year round. But despite the group's efforts to keep the monkeys away from towns and villages, calls to cull large numbers of monkeys are growing. Yoichi Tsujitani from the Azumino city council estimates it would take two to three years to remove monkeys entirely from areas near humans. But Shigeyuki Izumiyama of Nagano's Shinshu University says that culling the monkeys is not the answer. He thinks that better ideas include clearing vegetation near farms, identifying the location of monkeys with GPS collars and installing electric fences. For now, keeping the monkeys away is a constant battle. At a forest shrine, Miyake's squad took a short break. Within minutes of being chased away, the monkeys returned to the shrine roof to watch the humans below!