Animals
Police unit against aggressive monkeys in Thailand
The macaques have long been a concern for citizens in Lop Buri province. photo
© Carola Frentzen/dpa
Lop Buri in Thailand is also known as the “City of Monkeys”. Thousands of macaques live there – and are increasingly aggressive towards people. A separate police unit should help.
In order to control numerous aggressive monkeys, the Lop Buri province of Thailand now has its own Police unit. This has been in use on the streets of the central region since Monday and was set up on the instructions of the local police chief Apirak Vetkanchana, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported, citing the authorities. The officers were equipped with slingshots to keep the primates under control, it said.
The method is new and reportedly works better than the previous technique, in which the police shot the macaques with tranquilizer darts. The monkeys were only sedated after a few minutes and often managed to escape onto the roofs of houses. Above all, cages with bait were set up, with which more than 20 specimens could be caught in just a few days.
Lop Buri province and its capital of the same name are located about 140 kilometers from Bangkok and are famous for their large macaque population. The monkeys are protected in Thailand under the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act. The animals have been worrying citizens for a long time – but recently there have been an extremely large number of incidents with the animals, which are becoming increasingly aggressive and can also injure people.
Also interested in cell phones
Residents told media that people were suddenly attacked on the streets and the animals snatched all sorts of items from them. “Sometimes they steal students’ cell phones,” said Boonmee Phaeju, a seamstress from Lop Buri. “I ran after them, but I couldn’t do anything because the monkeys quickly climbed a building.”
The captured monkeys will first be examined in a wildlife clinic. What would happen to them afterwards was still unclear. The authorities were looking for a long-term solution, such as placing them in a zoo, it was said. According to a recent survey, more than 5,700 macaques lived in the province in 2023.