Japan: Wild monkeys attack 8 people in Yamaguchi over weekend

[Mary Wilson]

Sunday, July 24, 18:06

NHK

Wild monkeys have attacked residents in the city of Yamaguchi, western Japan, injuring eight people over the weekend.

Police say a monkey bit a teenage girl's leg early Sunday morning. The monkey left the room once but it came back by breaking through the screen window. The monkey also bit her mother's leg.

Later in the morning, a monkey sneaked into a room on the fourth floor of an apartment building in the same neighborhood, and bit a woman on her hands.

At around the same time, another woman who was outside nearby was attacked by a monkey from behind. Her left leg was bitten. The monkey reportedly ran away when she swung an umbrella.

In the same area, two men and two women were also attacked by a monkey between Saturday and Sunday.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220725_09/

 

[Mary Wilson]

Japan's police to take measures after wild monkey rampages

12 hours ago

BBC

Japanese police are turning to tranquiliser guns in an attempt to stem the tide of wild monkey attacks that have been terrorising residents.

In recent weeks, 42 people have been reported injured in Yamaguchi city - including children and the elderly.

The attacks are being blamed on Japanese macaques.

However, while they are a common sight in large parts of the country, incidents like these are unusual.

"It's rare to see this many attacks in a short period of time," said one city official, declining to give their name. "Initially only children and women were attacked. Recently elderly people and adult men have been targeted too."

Attempts to capture the animals with traps ended in failure and police patrols implemented since the first attack in early July have failed to deter the culprits.

Authorities are also unsure if the assaults are the work of a single rogue monkey or several.

Injuries have varied, with local media reporting victims have received anything from scratches, bitten legs and hands, to bitten necks and stomachs.

Stories include a four-year-old girl scratched during an apartment break-in, while in another instance a monkey breached a kindergarten classroom.

... "I heard crying coming from the ground floor, so I hurried down," one father told Japanese press. "Then I saw a monkey hunching over my child."

... A decrease in distance between humans and macaques is blamed by the study. Shifting cultural attitudes towards macaques, changes in human behaviour and changes in forest environments are given as possible reasons why.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-62292511

 

[Emily]

This is a study referenced in the news article - very interesting.
https://researchmap.jp/read0204489/published_papers/24505978/attachment_file.pdf
...
The worship of nature and the spirit (i.e., animism),
along with traditional views of nature based on
Shinrabanshô (i.e., the Gods exist in all things in
nature), had shaped the attitude of the Japanese people
Enari, Human–macaque conflicts in modern Japan 121
towards macaques, until the rise of premodern Japan
(Mito and Watanabe 1999; Maruyama 2006a; Mito 2011).
Before premodern times, people in Japan used various
body parts of the macaque, including organs and tissues,
as both medicines and charms (e.g., Umayazaru, the deity
protecting horses) to treat numerous diseases, as they
believed in a spiritual force that is inherent in animals
(Mito and Watanabe 1999; Maruyama 2006a; Mito 2011).
In addition, macaques also had indispensable value as an
emergency food supply for the people if crops were lost
to the cold weather (Mito 2011). Hence, while macaques
were viewed as pests even in premodern Japan, just like
today, the people of that time had formed an inextricable
bond with the animals both spiritually and materially.
This bond was broken once macaques vanished and
could not be found around settlements because of their
excessive commercial use and habitat bottlenecks
observed in the 19th century. The break in this bond lasted
for more than 100 years, and has critically influenced the
subconscious awareness of modern Japanese people, who
today, often instinctively possess three different attitudes
towards macaques...