Japanese authorities who are on the hunt for a gang of monkeys that attacked about 50 people in the west of the country, captured and killed this Wednesday one of the primatesaccording to a Japanese official.
(Also read: They find the snake’s head in the food of a flight)
The male ape was captured while prowling the grounds of a school in the city of Yamaguchi, but the others remain free.
The attacks
City authorities have been trying for weeks to track down the band of apes, which has become front-page news.
These animals are widespread in the Japanese archipelago, where they are sometimes considered a nuisance, sniffing around houses or pillaging crops.
(Also: Shakira will go to trial for tax fraud in Spain after rejecting an agreement)
But, it is rare for these little monkeys to attack humans directly. Nevertheless, both children and adults have been attacked, scratched or bitten in recent weeks in Yamaguchi.
“The entire city of Yamaguchi is surrounded by mountains, so it is not unusual to find monkeys” in the area, a municipal employee said Monday.
“Instead, it is rare to see so many attacks in such a short time,” he said.
“At first, only children and women were attacked. But recently, old men and grown men have been attacked“, he continued.
(Keep reading: Andrew Cunanan, the luxury escort who killed Gianni Versace in the back)
The capture
and on Tuesday night, hunters hired to search for them shot the monkey with a tranquilizer, and was eventually captured near a lake on the college grounds, an official with the local Department of Agriculture said.
After identifying the mammal as one of those responsible for the attacks, the monkey was euthanized, he said.
His age was calculated at four years and he was about half a meter tall.
The search for the remaining monkeys, which began with the first attacks three weeks ago, continues in Yamaguchi.
*With information from AFP
More news
Jacket worn on man’s first trip to the moon auctioned at record price
Mexico: man murdered his parents, who would have raped their grandchildren
Video: Man saves a girl who fell from a fifth floor in China from dying
#Japan #capture #kill #macaque #attacked #inhabitants #village