Monkeys have attacked more than 60 people in three weeks in one Japanese town

https://ift.tt/lbaOEBW Casey Baseel

Monkeys have come inside people’s homes to attack them, including a man asleep in his third-floor bed.

When you hear “Japan” and “monkeys,” your first image might be of simians soaking in natural hot springs, as they’re known to do in some mountainous parts of the country. However, things are a lot less heartwarming in Yamaguchi City these days, where residents of the Ogori neighborhood have been the target of monkey attacks for three weeks.

Violent encounters with local wildlife aren’t unheard of in the more rural parts of Japan, but they’re usually isolated incidents. Since July 8, though more than 60 people have been attacked by monkeys in Ogori, which works out to an average of just under three victims a day.

What’s more, the attacks aren’t occurring because humans are crashing about the forests and startling monkeys in their habitat. Instead, it’s the exact opposite situation, as many of the attacks are taking place inside people’s homes. In the first incident, a monkey managed to make it’s way through a family’s screen door and attacked their 11-month-old baby who was taking a nap, leaving bite and scratch wounds on the child’s legs, as seen in the video below.

Other incidents have included:
● A woman in her 30s who was attacked in the evening by a monkey while on the second-floor balcony of her home, suffering injuries to her arms and back
● A man in his 70s who was attacked while sleeping in the pre-dawn hours when a monkey came in through an open third-floor window of his home and bit him on both legs
● A women in her 70s who was attacked in the morning when a monkey came through her open front door, biting her on the feet and hands

In response, local police have been performing monkey patrols and traps have been placed around the community. Unfortunately, the monkeys seem to have little interest in the traps’ bait, making it unclear what their motive is in venturing into town. Although one monkey was shot with a tranquilizer gun and captured on Tuesday, attacks continued the very next day, so it appears that there are at least two that have been targeting the town’s residents. Thankfully, all of the attacks have been carried out by a single animal, and the current theory is that the monkeys are t currently part of any larger troop.

As you may have noticed, many of the attacks involve monkeys coming in through open doors and windows, or those with just a screen partition. Japan is always hot in the summer, and particularly so this year. However, many Japanese people have an aversion to running their air conditioners for extended periods of time, especially while sleeping. That attitude is especially common among older generations, whose first instinct is to crack a window before turning on the AC, but the city is urging people to keep their doors and windows closed until the attacks subside.

Sources: Jiji, NHK
Top image: Pakutaso (edited by SoraNews24)
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