Captured monkeys wait to be fed during the annual Monkey Banquet held inside an enclosure at Lopburi Zoo in Lopburi, Thailand, in 2024. Officials said nearly 100 monkeys escaped from the enclosure Tuesday morning. File Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA
Officials in a Thailand city said authorities are scrambling to capture nearly 100 monkeys that broke out of their enclosure.
Officials confirmed the monkeys escaped Tuesday morning from the Lopburi Municipality Animal Nursery in Pho Kao Ton subdistrict, Mueang Lopburi district, while staff managed to keep more than 1,000 other primates from following their lead.
Lopburi Mayor Chamroen Salacheep ordered local police and other agencies to round up the monkeys before they can cause damage to the community.
The municipality, which is famous for its annual Monkey Buffet festival, was formerly home to a large number of free-roaming long-tailed macaques, but the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation handed down orders in 2024 for about 2,500 of the animals to be rounded up and put into large enclosures.
The decision came after multiple incidents of monkeys becoming violent in the search for food.
Officials said the damage to the monkey enclosure was repaired Tuesday morning and plans are being drawn up to build a more secure double-layer enclosure for the primates.
