A commotion was reported in a neighbourhood of the Mueang district of Lop Buri yesterday, when more than 100 long-tailed macaques broke out of a large cage and caused a public nuisance.
Some of the monkeys invaded the Tha Hin police station, located near Pho Kao Ton where more than 300 monkeys were caged, while others climbed on the roofs of and broke into houses in search of food and ran around on roads in the vicinity of the cage, causing a disturbance to pedestrians and motorists.
Municipal officials said they put food in the cage in an attempt to lure the monkeys back, but it didn’t work. Latest reports claim that about 40 of the monkeys had returned to the cage.
All the macaques which escaped from Cage 3 at Pho Kao Ton had been captured by officials from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, at the request of the Mueang district administration, to reduce the monkey population and to reduce the disturbance they cause to residents.
More than 2,000 monkeys have been caught and relocated to a rehabilitation centre at Pho Kao Ton.
The municipal administration has approved a 26-million baht budget to build a new shelter inside a monkey zoo for the captured monkeys. The project is expected to be completed in June next year.
