A terrifying army of 3,500 marauding MONKEYS invades the city center, forcing tourists and locals to flee and close shops

AN ARMY of thousands of monkeys has razed a city in central Thailand.

Several shops and companies have been forced to close their doors and move, investors have stopped investing and shoppers have all but disappeared from the market. Lopburi.

An army of 3,500 macaques has overrun a city in Thailand

The city, once a hub for tourists, has suffered from the coronavirus pandemicCredit: Reuters – Check copyright holder

Since the lockdowns, the monkeys have become much more violent towards humansCredit: AFP

The Thai city, once a thriving hub for tourists who flocked to see the city's wilderness macaqueshas now been completely overrun by the 3,500-strong army that has taken over power.

Some locals have fled, while others have been forced to barricade their homes in a desperate bid to protect themselves from the rampaging apes.

“We live in a cage, but the monkeys live outside,” Kuljira Taechawattanawanna, a local resident of Lopburi, told AFP.

Taechawattanawanna further said that she had to cover her terrace to prevent the crowd from invading her house in search of food.

Lopburi has had to establish several no-go zones throughout the city as some of these areas have been taken over by warring rival monkey gangs.

At first, locals tried to keep the animals at bay by feeding them junk food, but the plan backfired and only seemed to make the monkeys more violent.

They had given the monkeys sweets, carbonated drinks and cereals; sweet treats known to make monkeys more hyper and sexually active.

“Sugar-rich food can increase monkey productivity and encourage monkeys to reproduce more,” said Suttipong Kamtaptim of the Department of National Parks.

Female monkeys can already reproduce twice a year, and the frequency with which they are fed sugar has meant that these monkeys have had an abundance of energy to do so.

Pre-pandemicMonkey and man lived in harmony in the city – the macaques attracted tourists to the city, and those tourists bought bananas to feed the animals and pose with them.

But that balance quickly collapsed closures stopped the steady stream of tourismleaving the macaques desperate for a new food source.

“The monkeys are hungrier and more aggressive than before,” says Somsaksri Janhon, a marketstall vendor, told the Guardian.

'They're taking everything they can. The comb, the mirror. If I leave the food unattended, they steal the food too.”

“They are so used to tourists feeding them and the city does not allow them to fend for themselves,” Supakarn Kaewchot, a government veterinarian, told Reuters.

'Now that the tourists have left, they have become more aggressive and have fought with people for food to survive.

“They invade buildings and force locals to flee their homes.”

The monkeys are now everywhere. They sit on top of the roofs, ready for an ambush, they cause riots on the roads and they even rob in passing cars.

The Thai Ministry of National parks has had to launch a sterilization program in the hope that they can curb some of the city's fast-growing monkey population.

In 2020, authorities were able to use large fruits to lure hundreds of monkeys into cages so they could sterilize them.

Initially they were successful, capturing around 500 monkeys every day, but now the monkeys have figured out their tactics.

Kamtaptim said catching the macaques is no longer easy.

“As soon as they see our faces, they remember that. They know what we are going to do,” says Kamtaptim.

“In some groups, the head of the group tries to prevent their clan from entering the cage.”

He said capturing just 20 monkeys is now proving to be a challenge.