Marauding monkeys won’t face slingshots anymore in the historic Thai city of Lopburi, where they have been rounded up and sterilised after becoming rampant over the past years.
Before COVID-19 shut Lopburi, some of its 58,000 residents casually fed the 3,000 long-tailed macaques that lived alongside and even threw an annual fruit banquet for them, drawing tourists to “Monkey City”, a three-hour drive north of Bangkok.
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 fought in brawls, shocking locals. Some residents resorted to caging themselves within their homes.
“Their method is robbery – by all means,” said Wisarut Somngam, a local researcher with Ecoexist Society, a non-governmental organisation, where he is studying the situation.
“They were ready to snatch anything off your hands, any bags they suspect contain food or items like mobile phones.”
Small children, elderly women and even policemen carried around slingshots to try and scare away the macaques.
Reuters journalists made half a dozen trips to Lopburi this year, including during the height of the monkeys’ aggression in early 2024.
As complaints mounted after February, 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 are ready to steal anything…
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