The city of Yamaguchi in Japan has been besieged by violent gangs of macaque monkeys for the last few weeks.
At least 58 people have been attacked by the seditious simians so far. They've tried to take babies.
"They are so smart, and they tend to sneak up and attack from behind, grabbing at your legs," Masato Saito said. I've never seen anything like this before.
The time has been frightening for parents. A father told of his child's encounter with a wild monkey in an interview with the Mainichi Shimbun.
The man said he heard a cry from the ground floor. The monkey was hunching over my child.
A four-year-old girl was scratched after a monkey broke into her family's apartment.
There have been no serious injuries so far.
"Monkey attacks on humans are not uncommon in the area, but it's rare to see this many attacks in a short period of time," another city official said.
The attempts to catch the monkeys with traps were unsuccessful because they were not interested in food. Police now use tranquilizer guns to patrol.
At least one of the marauding macaques has been caught and put down, but it is not known how many are responsible for the attacks.
Thanks to long-standing efforts, the macaque population in Japan is back to normal. This came with some unforeseen consequences.
Things would only get worse if the monkeys are allowed to keep this up.
Hiroto Enari, a primate expert, told the New York Times that humans could cause more conflict if they gave them more opportunities to learn.
Hopefully this can be sorted out before more people are hurt.
There are more on monkeys.
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