According to the New York Times, a total of 56 victims have been assaulted by the monkey this month, including an infant girl who was injured at home and a 4-year-old girl who was mauled at a preschool. The monkey that died on July 26 is likely not the last to be executed in Japan for threatening the safety of the people. Yasuko Sanada, vice principal of Yamaguchi Kindergarten, where the 4-year-old girl attends, said monkeys were still running through the school grounds. “We received a warning from the police on the morning of July 27, so we stopped letting the children play outside,” Sanada said.
The monkey population in Japan is thriving thanks to a conservation effort that began after the so successful World War II. The resurgence of monkey populations has also fueled conflict between humans and monkeys. Monkeys can invade human habitats, according to Hiroto Enari, a primate expert at Yamagata University. Professor Enari said the monkeys could cause more conflict if given the opportunity to learn more. Each attack gives them the opportunity to learn how to cause trouble like unloading bricks or rummaging through trash cans. The biggest concern is that they can transmit hepatitis B and many other diseases to humans.
Conflict between humans and monkeys is quite common in Asia, home to billions of people and many native monkey species. In Thailand, crab-eating monkeys raged in Lopburi city for many years. They became more aggressive when Covid-19 broke out due to the sudden disappearance of the main food source from tourists. In Singapore, monkeys invaded an apartment complex, prompting the National Park Service to send guards to stop them and drive them back to the forest.
The Japanese monkey or snow monkey is the most northerly primate. The government used to restore forests near human habitation to create an abundant source of food for them. Now, Japanese monkeys have enough food and plenty of swamps to survive. While about 25,000 monkeys are killed each year in Japan, hunting them is illegal.
Yamaguchi , the western city near Hiroshima is the perfect location for the monkeys to carry out a series of recent attacks. Residential areas in the city are sandwiched between hills and mountains. This week, after the method of trapping failed, the Yamaguchi government sent a disposal team to shoot down the trouble monkeys.
