Battle for Lopburi: Monkeys sterlised as people fight to retake town
In an effort to help people regain control of Lopburi’s “Monkey City”, 147 long-tail macaques were sterilised between August 17 and 26, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said on Saturday.
Suttipong Kamtaptim, director of the department's wildlife conservation division in neighbouring Saraburi province, said the operation had been conducted in Lopburi old town, which is famous for its annual monkey buffet, in which free food is offered by residents to the macaques. The monkeys, however, have become increasingly numerous, aggressive and – according to some reports from tourists – “entitled”.
"The monkeys were captured and categorised for sterilisation at a monkey hospital in Lopburi Zoo," Suttipong explained.
He said 57 male and 90 female monkeys had been sterilised during the period, while three could not be steralised because they were pregnant.
The monkeys were anesthetised, weighed, cleaned and marked on their arms. The mark denotes the province, place and year they were sterilised, he said.
Suttipong added that the sterilised monkeys were kept under medical watch for two days before being returned to the places they were captured at.
So far this year, 322 monkeys have been sterilised: 154 males and 168 females, he said, adding that the first mass sterilisation was conducted between January 19 and 28.
Lopburi officials are committed to tackling the monkey crisis to ensure that people and monkeys can live in harmony, he added.
