Local officials in Yamaguchi, Japan, announced on Monday that they are using tranquillizer guns to stop roving monkeys that have recently wounded 42 people.
Japanese macaques are prevalent in many sections of the country and are considered a plague in others where they eat crops and even break into homes.
However, a recent uptick in monkey assaults in a city in western Japan has been exceptional, leaving adults and kids with bites and scratches.
It’s not uncommon to encounter monkeys in Yamaguchi City, according to a city official from the agricultural department who declined to give her name to AFP.
However, it’s unusual to witness this many assaults in a brief period of time.
Although the injuries have mostly been minor thus far, authorities are now using tranquillizer guns after their set traps failed to capture any of the troublesome monkeys.
“At first, just women and children were attacked. Adult men and the elderly have also recently been targeted, “added the official.
The city isn’t even sure if a single angry person or a group of monkeys are responsible for the attacks.
The burglars have occasionally entered through windows or by sliding open screen doors.
Since the first attacks around July 8, city officials and police have been patrolling the area, but no monkeys have been captured.
In recent weeks, the topic has gained attention in Japan, where locals have been reporting frequent incursions.
One local father told the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, “I heard crying coming from the ground floor, so I hastened down.”
Then I noticed a monkey stooped over my infant.
Until the early 20th century, Japanese macaques were thought to be a fragile species, but their numbers have recently increased.
They are now classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a species of “least concern.”
However, a research from Yamagata University found that the “recovery process has rarely been heralded as a conservation success, because it has created severe confrontations between people and the macaques.”