#Thai city mass sterilizes hungry monkeys wreaking havoc on locals

Wild macaques in the Thai city of Lopburi are being sterilized en masse in a bid to clampdown on the pesky primates — who are terrorizing city residents due to a dip in tourism amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Without visitors to feed and entertain them, Lopburi’s 2,000 monkeys have taken to aggressively wrestling food from locals.

“They’re so used to having tourists feed them and the city provides no space for them to fend for themselves,” said Supakarn Kaewchot, a government veterinarian.

“With the tourists gone, they’ve been more aggressive, fighting humans for food to survive,” Supakarn said.

“They’re invading buildings and forcing locals to flee their homes.”

The monkeys reproduce at a rapid clip — so officials plan to neuter 500 of the animals in the next two months.

Officials use fruit to lure the critters into cages, where vets sedate and shave them, tattoo the animals with a unique reference number, then place them on their backs for the vasectomy or tubal ligation.

Photos show several of the zonked-out primates lying side by side as they undergo the surgery, then cuddled together as they recover from the ordeal.

Each monkey gets one night under veterinary care before being released back into the streets.

Supakarn said the aim was to slow down the species’ urban growth.

“We’re not doing this in the wild,” she said, “only in the city areas.”

With Post wires