Humans strike back at monkeys with plan to move them out of Lop Buri city

Humans strike back at monkeys with plan to move them out of Lop Buri city
A person takes pictures of a chimpanzee enjoying food at the annual dinner for the pets at Phra Prang Sam Yod in Lop Buri country’s Muang district on Nov 24, 2019. The chimps are no longer boys for many people living in the city. ( Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasill )

Park officials hit back at lemurs after they wreaked havoc on people in Lop Buri state by kicking off an activity on Monday to move them out of the city for good.

A few employees from the Natural Resources, Wildlife and Plant Conversation Department placed cages at various locations in the city in the trust that monkeys would provide them and become trapped inside. Their primary goal was Ratchadamnoen Road in Muang area.

The division hoped to find at least 30 primates on the first day of the procedure, which may last until Wednesday.

Krirkwit Phuphayak, commander of the Khao Sompoj non- looking place, told Channel 3 that they had to change the hunting tactic from shooting them with stimulant bullets. It took at least five minutes for them to become sedated and by that time they could escape to other places, including going to the top of buildings which could pose a danger to people, the official said.

The hunt started after the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry on Saturday agreed to compensate people attacked by monkeys amid a growing problem in Lop Buri, including at least three major cases this month.

The Lop Buri Municipality on Sunday alerted residents to the operation. Monkeys caught by the mission would be released at the Wildlife Rescue Centre in Nakhon Nayok, it said.

Boonmee Phaeju, a tailor at a shop in the municipality, told Thai PBS that the animals grabbed anything from people walking in the area. ” Sometimes they snatched mobile phones from students. I went after them but I could do nothing because the monkey went up to the building”, she said.

Lop Buri is not alone in fighting naughty macaques. Koh Chang in Trat copes with the same problem and is mulling a plan to counter them.