--- title: "Japanese City Terrorized By Furious Baby-Snatching Monkeys" description: "Citizens living in the southwestern Japanese city of Yamaguchi have found themselves besieged by violent gangs of macaque monkeys." date: "2022-07-28" modified: "2022-07-28" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/japanese-city-terrorized-furious-monkeys" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "Japan" - "monkeys" - "the digest" - "wildlife" --- # Japanese City Terrorized By Furious Baby-Snatching Monkeys ![Citizens living in the southwestern Japanese city of Yamaguchi have found themselves besieged by violent gangs of macaque monkeys.]() *Portrait close up of the head of a surly looking male European Barbary Macaque (Macaca sylvanus), facing the camera. \Image: Getty Images/Ger Bosma\* ## Monkey Mayhem For the past few weeks, residents of the Japanese city of Yamaguchi have found themselves besieged by violent gangs of [macaque monkeys](). The seditious simians have attacked at least 58 people so far, [the *Associated Press* reports](), targeting everyone from children to the elderly. They’ve even attempted to snatch babies. "They are so smart, and they tend to sneak up and attack from behind, often grabbing at your legs," Yamaguchi city official Masato Saito told the *AP*. "I have never seen anything like this my entire life." It's been an especially terrifying time for parents. Speaking to the *Mainichi Shimbun* and [reported by *Agence France-Presse*](), one father tells of their child's harrowing encounter with a wild monkey. "I heard crying coming from the ground floor so I hurried down," the man said. "Then I saw a monkey hunching over my child." That was only one encounter of many, with another report saying a four-year-old girl was scratched after a monkey broke into her family's apartment. Fortunately, no one has been seriously injured so far. ## Unprecedented Monkey attacks on humans are not unheard of in the area, "but it’s rare to see this many attacks in a short period of time," [another city official]() told *AFP*. Efforts were made to capture the monkeys with traps, but were unsuccessful because the monkeys were not interested in food. Police have since turned to patrolling with tranquilizer guns. It’s not clear just how many monkeys are responsible for the attacks, but at least one of the marauding macaques [has been caught and put down](). Once endangered in Japan, the macaque population [has recovered]() thanks to long-standing conservation efforts. Evidently, this came with certain unintended consequences. And if the monkeys are allowed to keep this up, things could only get worse for Yamaguchi residents. "If humans give them many opportunities to learn, they might cause more conflict," primate expert Hiroto Enari [told the *New York Times*](). Hopefully authorities can get this sorted out before too many humans — or monkeys — are harmed. **More on monkeys:** [Scientists Recapture Escaped Lab Monkeys and Kill Them for Some Reason]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()