Tourist city in Thailand overrun with hungry monkeys starts mass sterilisation programme

Name: Humans try to take back control in Thai city overrun by monkeys
Uploaded: 2020-06-23T12:27:27.000Z
Duration: 3 min 3 s
Description: Humans try to take back control in Thai city overrun by monkeys

With tourists gone since Thailand closed its borders in April to control the coronavirus, Lopburi’s macaques have been getting hungry and aggressive

The government aims to sterilise 500 of the monkeys over the next two months, in an effort to control the size of their population

Reading Time:2 minutes

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A longtail macaque climbs on a monkey statue in front of the Prang Sam Yod Buddhist temple in the town of Lopburi earlier this month. Photo: AFP

Reuters

Published: 8:27pm, 23 Jun 2020Updated: 5:44am, 25 Jun 2020

Thailand has started sterilising hundreds of monkeys in a city famous for its macaque population, as the coronavirus pandemic leaves them hungry, aggressive and wrestling food from terrified residents.

Lopburi province and its 2,000 monkeys have long been a draw for tourists from around the world, who typically feed them and pose with them for selfies.

03:03

Humans try to take back control in Thai city overrun by monkeys

But since Thailand closed its borders on April 4 to control coronavirus infections, the monkeys are not adapting well to their new normal.

“They’re so used to having tourists feed them and the city provides no space for them to fend for themselves,” said Supakarn Kaewchot, a government veterinary surgeon.

A Thai Buddhist monk feeds a monkey on a street in Lopburi province earlier this month. Photo: EPA

“With the tourists gone, they’ve been more aggressive, fighting humans for food to survive,” she said.

“They’re invading buildings and forcing locals to flee their homes.”

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