It is always scary when people in a town or a city start getting attacked; even more frightening when the culprit is unknown.
Thankfully, in the case of the attacks on people in the Japanese city of Yamaguchi, the culprit is known: the Japanese macaque, Japan’s only indigenous monkey species.
In less than a month (between July 8-27, 2022), 58 people have been attacked, with all advised to seek hospital treatment.
According to AP News, “the attacks (…) are getting so bad Yamaguchi city hall hired a special unit to hunt the animals with tranquillizer guns.”
This measure may seem extreme, but they are necessary because food traps are not working.Â
The macaques are not interested in food. They have targeted mostly children and the elderly.
They are trying to snatch babies, biting and clawing at flesh, and sneaking into nursery schools.
Masato Saito, a city official, said, “They are so smart, and they tend to sneak up and attack from behind, often grabbing at your legs.â
That sounds terrifying!
Attacks on people by bears, boars or other wildlife are not unheard of in nature-abundant Japan.
However, monkey attacks are a new one. It remains unclear why the attacks occurred and where exactly the troop of monkeys came from.
âI have never seen anything like this my entire life,â Saito told AP News.
Netizens react
We always think of apocalypses in terms of zombie invasions and massive natural disasters.Â
But it turns out that unprovoked attacks from members of the animal kingdom may also bring up images of and references to movies and TV series such as Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes and Zoo.
Here’s how netizens reacted to the monkey attacks.
We hope the mystery of the monkeys’ behaviour can be solved soon!
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