No more monkey mania as Thai city clamps down

Marauding monkeys volition not look slingshots immoderate much successful the historical Thai metropolis of Lopburi, wherever they person been rounded up and sterilised aft turning rampant implicit the past 4 years.

Before COVID-19 unopen Lopburi, immoderate of its 58,000 residents casually fed the 3,000 long-tailed macaques that lived alongside them and adjacent threw an yearly effect banquet for them, drafting tourists to the “Monkey City,” which sits 3 hours thrust northbound of Bangkok.

The macaques, believed to bring bully fortune, besides inhabit adjacent forests and person agelong been a portion of the city’s history. But aft Lopburi came retired of the pandemic lockdown successful mid-2022, its residents recovered that without radical feeding them, the monkeys had go unruly.

Troops of macaques had taken implicit buildings, often confronting residents, stealing nutrient and causing accidents. Gangs of monkeys engaged successful wide brawls.

“Their method is robbery – by each means,” said Wisarut Somngam, a section researcher with Ecoexist Society, a nongovernmental organisation. “They were acceptable to snatch thing disconnected your hands, immoderate bags they fishy incorporate nutrient oregon items similar mobile phones.”

Small children, aged women and adjacent policemen carried astir slingshots to effort and scare distant the macaques.

As complaints mounted this year, authorities equipped with slingshots and traps sprang into enactment to drawback the primates that had wrought havoc and adjacent frightened immoderate residents into putting up metallic bars astatine their homes for protection.

“We person to cage ourselves inside, we person nary state adjacent connected the premises of our ain homes,” said Jirat Buapromart, 54. “They are acceptable to bargain thing they tin from us.”

By May, authorities stepped up the propulsion against the monkeys, including boosting sterilisation efforts that began during the pandemic.

“Our extremity is to neuter each the monkeys, 100 percent of them,” section veterinarian Patarapol Maneeorn from the authorities wildlife section said successful September.

The monkeys would past beryllium enactment into a designated country wherever they volition beryllium looked after, helium said.

Five months aft the commencement of the government’s campaign, Lopburi’s primate pandemonium has yet travel nether control, with astir 1,600 monkeys successful captivity.

Some carnal rights groups hold with authorities connected neutering the monkeys, but not putting them successful cages.

“The monkeys are suffering due to the fact that presently they’re successful a cage that is not designed for them,” said Edwin Wiek, laminitis of Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand. “It’s not due for them.”

Wiek pressed the authorities to summation backing to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, which has unit trained successful carnal attraction and treatment.

For immoderate residents, the instrumentality of calm connected the streets of Lopburi is simply a relief. “Things person go a small easier due to the fact that astir of the monkeys were captured. Life is easier,” said clockmaker Chalit Nithiwkram, 64.

Business was besides improving, helium said: “If determination were monkeys, nary customers would situation to travel by and parkland their cars here.”

For others, Lopburi and its monkeys are inseparable.

“Monkeys are portion of Lopburi’s identity,” said Supaporn Reanprayoorn, 38, who runs a store adjacent a temple wherever monkeys often gathered. She sometimes gave them snacks.

“Let tourists instrumentality pictures with them – conscionable a 100 oregon two.”