NO MORE MONKEY BUSINESS

Thai authorities plug primate problem plaguing many residents in cultural hub

Marauding monkeys will no longer face slingshots in the Thai city of Lopburi, where they have been rounded up and sterilized after turning rampant over the past four years.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Lopburi, many of its 58,000 residents casually fed the 3,000 long-tailed macaques that lived in the cultural hub.

People even threw an annual fruit banquet for the animals, drawing tourists to the "Monkey City" located north of Bangkok about three hours' drive away.

The macaques, believed to bring good fortune, also inhabit nearby forests and have long been a part of the city's history.

But after Lopburi came out of the pandemic lockdown in mid-2022, its residents found that the monkeys, without people feeding them, had become unruly.

Troops of macaques had taken over buildings, often confronting residents, stealing food and causing accidents. Gangs of monkeys also broke out in brawls, shocking locals.

"Their method is robbery — by all means," said Wisarut Somngam, a local researcher with NGO Ecoexist Society.

"They were ready to snatch anything off your hands, any bags they suspected that contained food or items like mobile phones."

Small children, elderly women and even policemen carried around slingshots to try and scare away the macaques.

Causing chaos

As complaints mounted after February, local authorities, armed with slingshots and traps, sprang into action to catch the primates that had wreaked havoc and even scared some residents into putting up metal bars at their homes for protection.

"We have to cage ourselves inside, we have no freedom even on the premises of our own homes," said Jirat Buapromart, 54.

"They were ready to steal anything they could from us."

By May, measures against the monkeys are taken including boosting sterilization efforts that began during the pandemic.

"Our goal is to neuter all the monkeys, 100 percent of them," local veterinarian Patarapol Maneeorn from the government wildlife department said in September.

The monkeys would then be put into a designated area where they would be looked after, he said.

Months after the start of the campaign, Lopburi's primate pandemonium has finally come under control, with about 1,600 monkeys in captivity.

For some residents, the return of calm on the streets of Lopburi is a relief. "Things have become a little easier because most of the monkeys were captured. Life is easier," said clockmaker Chalit Nithiwkram, 64.

Business was also improving. "If there were monkeys, no customers would dare to come by and park their cars here," he said.

For others, Lopburi and its monkeys are inseparable. "Monkeys are part of Lopburi's identity," said Supaporn Reanprayoorn, 38, who runs a store near a temple where monkeys often gathered. She sometimes gave them snacks.

"Let tourists take pictures with them — just a hundred or two."

Agencies via Xinhua