Yamaguchi municipal officials in Japan are boosting their efforts to fend off marauding monkeys that have recently wounded at least 42 people.
Local officials are using tranquillizer guns to address the monkey threat, after traps they placed failed to capture any of the troublesome animals. Both adults and toddlers report having bites and scrapes on their bodies.
Although seeing monkeys is common in Yamaguchi City, which is entirely encircled by mountains, one city official from the agricultural department noted that “it’s rare to see this many attacks in a short period of time.”
“Initially only children and women were attacked. Recently elderly people and adult men have been targeted too,” the official said.
The city isn’t even sure if a single angry monkey or a group of monkeys are responsible for the attacks. The primates 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.
“I heard crying coming from the ground floor, so I hurried down,” one local reported to the Mainichi Shimbun Daily. “Then I saw a monkey hunching over my child.”