Starving Monkeys in Thailand Raids Local Town For Food Because There are No Tourists To Feed Them

The coronavirus has taken a toll on all of our lives and shaken things up quite a bit. Malls are emptier, the streets are emptier, and even our supermarket shelves were completely empty at one point.

Remember those days where everyone was rushing to the stores to pile up on as much rice and noodles as they could?

Even though there was really nothing much to worry about…

Because luckily for us, food is not something that Singapore will be running out of any time soon.

However, unfortunately, we can’t say the same for these stray monkeys in Thailand:

Hundreds of Monkeys Raid The Streets of Lopburi

The Covid-19 outbreak has led to an unexpected monkey raid in the streets of Lopburi, Thailand.

These starving Thai monkeys were running frantically across the streets in search of food and attacking each other ferociously. Some could even be seen fighting over one single banana.

A viral video clip posted online by 28-year-old Sasaluk Rattanachai shows hundreds of monkeys on the street, screaming in their high-pitched voices while hunting for food.

“They looked more like wild dogs than monkeys,” said Sasaluk, who captured the video from the shop where she works at.

“I think the monkeys were very, very hungry.”

The locals were appalled by the monkeys’ behaviour as they have never seen them act this aggressively before.

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Lack of Food Due to The Drop in Tourism

Most of the time, these monkeys are fed well by tourists who visit Lopburi and its temples, and they are highly dependant on them for their daily meals.

Some tourists also leave offerings at the temples and shrines, which would then be eaten by the monkeys in that area.

However, since the coronavirus outbreak has led to a rapid decline in tourism, the monkeys are struggling to find enough food to survive without the help of the tourists.

“It’s the summer so usually we see a lot of tourists, but now because of the outbreak, there’s so few that the markets are very quiet. Not enough tourists come to leave food for the monkeys at Prang Sam Yod,” Sasaluk added.

Lopburi is home to thousands of monkeys, and they usually roam around the ancient Buddhist temples in the area.

A Fight Between Two Rival Monkey Gangs

What makes this monkey raid even more interesting is the fact that it was also a battle between two rival monkey gangs.

The monkeys in Lopburi are split into two distinct groups, or “rival gangs”, and they are either a part of the city monkeys or the temple monkeys.

Both gangs are not exactly the best of friends, obviously. 

Apparently, the fight started when one gang of monkeys invaded the other’s territory to get food, and that explains the large numbers of monkeys fighting in the street that day.

It does not look like their food shortage situation will be getting better any time soon, as Thailand’s tourism industry has been hit pretty badly by the coronavirus outbreak.

Recently, Thailand faced a spike in new Covid-19 cases and confirmed 11 cases in a day, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 70.