Aggressive Monkey Gangs to be Caged After Terrorizing Tourist Town in Thailand

(Photo : Getty Images/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

Thai wildlife officials have announced a strategy to deal with the thousands of macaque monkeys who terrorize Lopburi locals and tourists, stealing food and even harming them in their eager search for a free meal.

Dangerous Encounters

The macaques that wander Lopburi represent local culture and are a popular tourist attraction.

However, after years of dangerous encounters with residents and visitors, as well as multiple failed attempts to establish peace through population control measures, locals and businesses have had enough.

Monkeys frequently try to take food from humans, resulting in tussles that can cause scratches and other injuries.

This village, located around 90 miles north of the capital Bangkok, is well-known for its monkey population. The local cops are employing wooden catapults to deal with the rowdy monkeys.

Criticism intensified in March when a woman dislocated her knee after a monkey dragged her off her feet in an attempt to obtain food, and another man was thrown from his motorcycle by a hungry monkey.

Athapol Charoenshunsa, director-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation, said they intend to round up 2,500 of the nuisance monkeys and place them in vast enclosures outside the city from which the animals will be unable to escape.

"I don't want humans to have to hurt monkeys, and I don't want monkeys to have to hurt humans," he said.

Catching Monkeys

An official monkey-catching campaign was launched this week, with a focus on more aggressive alpha males.

It has captured 37 monkeys so far, the majority of which have been placed in the care of wildlife authorities in the nearby province of Saraburi, while others have been taken to the Lopburi zoo.

Officials said they intend to capture the rest of the monkeys once the enclosures are completed, particularly those in residential areas. Separate cages will be set up for various monkey battalions to keep them from fighting.

Police Major General Apirak Wechkanchana ordered the formation of a special police force to battle monkeys.

"In most cases, they only need to use the slingshots as a deterrent, they don't have to use objects to strike the monkeys," he added.

The police team has also been ordered to keep the monkeys from stealing or vandalizing property.

Some have blamed the city's monkey problems on tourists and inhabitants feeding the creatures, claiming that this lured monkeys into the city, increased their population, and conditioned them to accept food from humans.

Residents believe that an earlier effort to curtail feeding exacerbated the situation. In recent years, local officials have threatened fines for feeding monkeys outside of a few permitted places near the main tourist attractions.

However, those feeding sites were dominated by a few armies of the fiercely territorial beasts, while rival bands became increasingly hungry and began pestering people in other regions for food.

People must also learn to live with the city's monkeys, according to Phadej Laithong, director of the Wildlife Conservation Office, who explains that a shortage of natural food sources forces the animals to seek sustenance elsewhere, even from humans.

Previous control measures have fallen short. From 2014 until 2023, the wildlife officials neutered around 2,600 Lopburi monkeys.

Athapol stated that they are also working in other locations in Thailand where monkeys are an issue, like Prajuab Kiri Khan and Phetchaburi. He claimed that monkeys cause frequent difficulties in 52 of the country's 77 provinces.