Marauding monkeys is not going to face slingshots any extra within the historic Thai metropolis of Lopburi, the place they’ve been rounded up and sterilised after turning rampant over the previous 4 years.
Earlier than COVID-19 shut Lopburi, a few of its 58,000 residents casually fed the three,000 long-tailed macaques that lived alongside them and even threw an annual fruit banquet for them, drawing vacationers to the “Monkey Metropolis,” which sits three hours drive north of Bangkok.
The macaques, believed to carry luck, additionally inhabit close by forests and have lengthy been part of town’s historical past. However after Lopburi got here out of the pandemic lockdown in mid-2022, its residents discovered that with out individuals feeding them, the monkeys had turn out to be unruly.
Troops of macaques had taken over buildings, typically confronting residents, stealing meals and inflicting accidents. Gangs of monkeys engaged in mass brawls.
“Their methodology is theft – by all means,” mentioned Wisarut Somngam, an area researcher with Ecoexist Society, a nongovernmental organisation. “They have been prepared to grab something off your palms, any luggage they believe include meals or gadgets like cell phones.”
Young children, aged ladies and even policemen carried round slingshots to try to scare away the macaques.
As complaints mounted this 12 months, authorities armed with slingshots and traps sprang into motion to catch the primates that had wrought havoc and even scared some residents into placing up metallic bars at their houses for cover.
“Now we have to cage ourselves inside, we now have no freedom even on the premises of our personal houses,” mentioned Jirat Buapromart, 54. “They’re able to steal something they will from us.”
By Could, authorities stepped up the push in opposition to the monkeys, together with boosting sterilisation efforts that started in the course of the pandemic.
“Our aim is to neuter all of the monkeys, one hundred pc of them,” native veterinarian Patarapol Maneeorn from the federal government wildlife division mentioned in September.
The monkeys would then be put into a delegated space the place they are going to be sorted, he mentioned.
5 months after the beginning of the federal government’s marketing campaign, Lopburi’s primate pandemonium has lastly come beneath management, with about 1,600 monkeys in captivity.
Some animal rights teams agree with authorities on neutering the monkeys, however not placing them in cages.
“The monkeys are struggling as a result of presently they’re in a cage that isn’t designed for them,” mentioned Edwin Wiek, founding father of Wildlife Mates Basis Thailand. “It’s not correct for them.”
Wiek pressed the federal government to extend funding to the Division of Nationwide Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, which has personnel skilled in animal care and remedy.
For some residents, the return of calm on the streets of Lopburi is a reduction. “Issues have turn out to be somewhat simpler as a result of many of the monkeys have been captured. Life is simpler,” mentioned clockmaker Chalit Nithiwkram, 64.
Enterprise was additionally enhancing, he mentioned: “If there have been monkeys, no clients would dare to return by and park their vehicles right here.”
For others, Lopburi and its monkeys are inseparable.
“Monkeys are a part of Lopburi’s identification,” mentioned Supaporn Reanprayoorn, 38, who runs a retailer close to a temple the place monkeys typically gathered. She typically gave them snacks.
“Let vacationers take photos with them – only a hundred or two.”
