Authorities in Thailand aren’t monkeying around.
Wildlife officials have a plan to deal with the thousands of macaque monkeys that terrorize Lopburi residents and tourists, snatching food and even injuring people in their overzealous pursuit of a free meal.
They’re planning to round up 2,500 of the nuisance monkeys and put them in large enclosures outside the city that the animals can’t escape, said Athapol Charoenshunsa, the director-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
“I don’t want humans to have to hurt monkeys, and I don’t want monkeys to have to hurt humans,” he told reporters during a news conference in Bangkok, according to the Associated Press.
The move comes as Lopburi businesses are shuttering and investors are refusing to sink any more money into the monkey-ridden city until the problem is dealt with, the South China Post reported in February.
A series of troubling incidents has had locals worried. Just last month, a woman dislocated her knee after a monkey pulled her off her feet in an effort to grab food, and another man was knocked off a motorcycle by a hungry monkey.
Some of the captured monkeys will also be placed at the Lopburi zoo, and officials will work with wildlife experts to find a way for a limited number of the protected species to stay in the city, Charoenshunsa said.
The macaque monkeys remain a symbol of local culture and a major tourist draw despite their clashes with humans in the central Thai city, which celebrates a “Monkey Buffet” festival each year. But the massive numbers have created chaos, spurred, in part, by wildlife officials’ failed attempts to control the population, some residents said.
Local officials tried to create designated monkey feeding areas near tourist destinations and threatened fines for those caught feeding the monkeys outside of those areas. But a few troops of highly territorial monkeys dominated the designated feeding areas causing rival monkey groups to go bananas, harassing humans in other areas for food even more.
Officials also tried to curb breeding by neutering 2,600 males from 2014-23, but that didn’t stem the overpopulation.
The small primates were even caught on video in nearby Koh Phi Phi island last September stealing bananas from a 7-Eleven.
The enclosures are not finished, but wildlife officials already launched an official monkey catching campaign last week, prioritizing more aggressive alpha males. It has reportedly caught 37 monkeys so far, most of which have been put under the care of wildlife authorities in the neighboring province of Saraburi.
Once the enclosures are finished officials will prioritize removing monkeys from residential areas.
They will be transported in cages only with members of their own troop to prevent fighting.
Charoenshunsa said 52 of the country’s 77 provinces report frequent problems from monkeys.
The monkeys are turning to humans for food because of a lack of natural food sources, said Phadej Laithong, director of the Wildlife Conservation Office.
Humans also need to adapt to the city’s monkeys, Laithong said.
With Post wires
