A year ago, in the Thai city of Lopburi, the authorities had to sterilize 500 street monkeys because they became very aggressive. They attacked the neighbors, they entered the houses to steal food and they did not stop reproducing. Even the police had to cordon some parts of the city because the animals had turned sidewalks and facades into a mix between their amusement park and an Ring of fights.
The economy of Lopburi, 150 kilometers northeast of Bangkok, was sustained thanks to foreign tourism visited this city famous for its 2,000 monkeys, which instead of being caged or in a zoo, camp freely through the streets, living in harmony with The locals.
Until the pandemic arrived. Thailand closed its borders on April 4, 2020. And they no longer came to Lopburi tourists who feed with bananas to the macaques, which rode their particular rebellion to survive. Not even the sugary, cereal and sweet drinks that the neighbors gave them managed to appease them.
Scenes were lived as surrealistic as a video filmed, in which a group of monkeys fighting on the street to see who had a yogurt that one had stolen from a store.
"Now we live in a cage and the monkeys are outside," said a neighbor to the AFP agency, assuring that he had to cover with a awning the terrace of his restaurant because the animals were hung in search of food.
"The monkeys of the city are used to tourists to eat them and generally do not need to hunt on their own, that has changed, now they have become more aggressive and fight with humans to survive. They have more time and energy to reproduce and cause problems, "explained a local veterinarian called Supakarn Kaewchot.
The situation calmed down when the authorities filled the city of great cages full of fruits to attract monkeys and capture them. Afterwards, they took them to the veterinary clinics, where they made them a vasectomy or a tubal ligation operation. The attacks and robberies were reduced, but today even the Thai newspapers report any incident every time.
This week, the monkeys return to be currently in Southeast Asia by the altercations that are on the tourist island of Bali, where these animals, in the absence of food that tourists took them before, are assaulting houses in search of food.
It happens in Sageh, a famous jungle for hosting a sanctuary where 600 macacos live. Now, the animals escape to the nearest village. According to the AP agency, which has visited the place, the monkey forest used to receive around 6,000 visitors per month, but as the pandemic extended last year, the authorities forbade the entry of foreigners and residents to the sanctuary.
Frequently, the monkeys wander through the village and sit on the ceilings, from time to time remove the tiles and let them fall to the ground. When Buddhist villagers leave daily food offerings on their terraces, especially fruit and cookies, monkeys jump and escape with food.
This is one of those surrealistic stories dragged by the pandemic. It may seem like a carefree news among so much death that is leaving the coronavirus. Although the neighbors who have suffered the attacks and robberies of the monkeys do not make them any grace. But, for now, none of these Hungry Asian monkeys have come to imitate the misdeeds of the famous Kuala, the first macaque condemned to life imprisonment.
That happened in India last summer. Kuala had bitten 250 people in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Even, according to local press cuts, he would have killed a four-year-old girl. She slipped into her house and strangled her.
In addition, Kuala was an alcoholic monkey. The animal had abstinence syndrome because its owner gave him liquor every day. When he died, the lack of alcohol returned to the animal very aggressive and began to bite everyone who found on the street.
Date Of Update: 04 September 2021, 07:52
