Chinanews, Chongqing, Nov. 23 – Recently, workers at the Chongqing Municipal Forestry Bureau caught 80 rhesus monkeys in the Lesser Three Gorges area and planned to release them in the Three Gorges area. Right now, the 80 rhesus monkeys are being trained near Qutangxia Gorge. If they are released to nature, the ecological environment in the Three Gorges will become better, the Chongqing Evening News reported.Thousands of years ago, famous Chinese poet Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) once wrote a poem describing the beautiful scene at the Three Gorges. When taking a boat to pass the Three Gorges, the poet wrote: “With monkeys' sad adieus the riverbanks are loud/ My boat has left ten thousand of mountains far away." However, due to environmental deterioration, such beautiful scene has disappeared in the Yangtze River for several hundred years now. In recent years, as ecological environment near the Three Gorges area has improved gradually, local government has been hoping to release some monkeys in the Three Gorges area. For one thing, this can further improve local ecological environment, while for another, tourists taking a boat trip along the Yangtze River can appreciate again the beautiful scenes as once described in ancient times.At present, there are about 3,000 monkeys living in the Lesser Three Gorges area. These monkeys have reproduced at a fast rate. The monkeys often come to the fields and destroy the crops there. They have become a headache to local farmers. In light of this, local government has finally decided that they will catch some monkeys and release them in the Three Gorges area. Early last month, workers at local forestry bureau caught 80 rhesus monkeys and shipped them to the Qutangxia Gorge.In the next step, local officials will send researchers to look for the appropriate sites to release these monkeys. The beautiful scenes, as described by the ancient poet Li Bai will appear again along the Yangtze River.