TOKYO (AP) – People in a southwestern Japanese city have been attacked by monkeys that try to grab babies, bite and scratch the flesh and sneak into kindergartens.
The attacks – on 58 people since July 8 – are getting so bad that Yamaguchi City Hall has hired a special squad to hunt down the animals with tranquilizer guns.
The monkeys weren’t interested in food, so the traps didn’t work. They are mainly aimed at children and the elderly.
“They are so smart and tend to sneak up and attack from behind, often grabbing your legs,” city official Masato Saito said Wednesday.
When confronted by a monkey, the instructions are: Don’t look them in the eye, make yourself look as big as possible by opening your coat, then back away as quietly as possible without making any sudden movements, according to Saito.
A woman was attacked by a monkey while hanging laundry on her porch. Another victim showed bandaged toes. They were surprised and frightened by how big and fat the monkeys were.
The monkeys terrorizing the community are Japanese macaques, often depicted peacefully bathing in hot springs.
One male monkey, measuring 49 centimeters (1.6 feet) tall and weighing 7 kilograms (15 pounds), was caught on Tuesday by the team with a tranquilizer gun. According to various evidence, it was one of the attacking monkeys and was killed.
But more attacks have been reported since the capture.
So far, there have been no serious injuries. But all have been advised to seek hospital treatment. In some cases, ambulances were called.
Although Japan is industrialized and urban, a significant portion of the archipelago’s land is mountain and forest. Rare attacks on humans by bears, boars, or other wild animals have occurred, but usually not by monkeys.
No one seems to know why the attacks happened, and where exactly the group of monkeys came from remains unclear.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life,” Saito said.
___
Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter
Add Comment