A series of attacks in southwestern Japan by local macaques, a monkey species native to Asia, have injured at least 45 people, according to officials.
Mountains and forests surround the city of Yamaguchi, and encounters between monkeys and residents are not uncommon. But a string of violent assaults and home invasions have made national headlines and startled local authorities.
“It’s rare to see this many attacks in a short period of time,” one unnamed official told the BBC, “Initially only children and women were attacked. Recently elderly people and adult men have been targeted too.”
Attempts to trap the animals have proven unsuccessful, and authorities are unsure if the attacks are being carried out by a group of animals or a single rogue male.
Some of the earliest attacks were reported around July 8th, when at least one monkey entered private homes and schools through sliding doors and windows and attacked the people inside.
In the first reported attack, the monkey entered an apartment in the city’s Ogochi district and attempted to drag a baby out the window. The baby’s mother, however, heard her child’s screams and was able to scare the monkey away.
“It had grabbed her by the legs while she was playing on the floor. It looked like it was trying to drag her outside,” the mother reportedly told local news outlets.
Other victims have reported a range of scratch and bite wounds, although so far, none have sustained severe injuries.
Officials have advised residents to lock their windows and doors to prevent unwanted entries, but attacks are now occurring more frequently outdoors.
“Recently, we’ve heard of cases where the monkey has clung onto a person’s leg and once that person tries to get them off, they get bitten — or they’ve gotten sprung on from behind,” Masato Saito, an official from Yamaguchi City Hall said in a statement to CNN. “This is a very unusual occurrence; they have never come into an urban area like this before and assaulted this many people.”
Japanese macaques, sometimes called ‘snow monkeys,’ are native to Japan. They typically weigh between 20-25 lbs and stand roughly 1½ – 2 feet tall. They usually live in groups, although some young males do break away from their social circle to live alone for a time.
While they were previously considered a vulnerable species, recent conservation efforts have led to a considerable spike in the macaque population. Their shrinking natural habitat puts the animals in closer contact with human population centers, increasing the frequency of human-monkey incidents.
“In Japan, more and more monkeys are coming into homes and farms, damaging crops,” Mieko Kiyono, a wildlife management expert and professor at Kobe University, told CNN.
While local governments are developing techniques to scare them off, these measures could become ineffective as more animals become accustomed to human contact.
“Monkeys who learn to react against humans will join other herds, leading to more monkeys that do not fear humans,” Kiyono added.