JAPANESE MACAQUES AND HUMANS: ENTERTAINERS, PESTS, ATTACKS, CONTROL

JAPANESE MACAQUES AND HUMANS

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Images of Japanese macaques have been found in tombs dating back to the Jomon period (10,000 B.C. to 300 B.C.). The animals appeared in famous scrolls in Kozanji Temple from the Heian period (794-1192) . In the Kamakura period (1192-1333) large numbers of Japanese began wearing monkey charms to keep evil away. “Saru” the Japanese word for monkey can mean “go away,”as in making evil spirits go away. Monkeys were hunted for medicines.

Japanese macaques do not try to drive away humans from their territory as long as they are not seen as a threat. Often they can be quite welcoming. Yukihisa Mito, who studied the animals for 30 years told the Daily Yomiuri he once fell asleep while observing them and awoke with something touching his hair. “I opened my eyes slightly and found myself being groomed by a monkey I recognized from the troop I’d been following. This made me feel happy.”

Japanese macaques have been extensively studied because of their unusual behavioral patterns and because they carry diseases similar to those of humans. They are a tourist attraction and are easily habituated to humans. Some individuals have become habituated to humans in as little as week, while others have taken several years or more. Japanese macaques are considered to be a nuisance, and they rank as the third worst crop pest behind wild boar and deer. Because they have become habituated to humans it is not easy to scare them away. [Source: Brandon Hardman, Animal Diversity Web (ADW)]

Urbanized Japanese Macaques

In the past the numbers of monkeys and their presence in inhabited areas was controlled by hunters and dogs. Today, in many places, Japanese macaques have lost their fear of humans and are not afraid to try and snatch food and other things from the humans. One shouldn't stare at a Japanese macaque, that makes them edgy.

Conservationists say that the encroachment of farms and human development on the forest where the monkeys have additionally lived have tempted the monkeys away from their normal food sources. Monkeys that live on food given to them by humans and rummaged from garbage area are bigger and give birth to more young than monkeys that don’t eat human food. Japanese macaques reportedly love greasy food and food from McDonald’s.

In August 2008, a Japanese macaque was seen at Shibuya station in one of the busiest parts of Tokyo. It manages to escape efforts to catch it and was last seen heading in the direction of Shinjuku. The Yakushima macaque and the Japanese macaque on the Shimokita Peninsula, the remote northern cape of Honshu, have been removed from the endangered list as their numbers have been increasing.

Near Extinction and Explosive Come Back of Japanese Macaques

null According to a study published April 2021 in the journal Mammal Study, Japanese macaque populations are steadily increasing but they were once in danger of extinction. Isobel Whitcomb wrote in Live Science: At the end of the 19th century, roughly half of Japan’s forests, where macaques reside, were lost to deforestation. In addition to habitat loss, widespread hunting dealt a blow to these primate populations, so that by World War II, macaques were threatened across Japan and were locally extinct in many areas of their former range. [Source: Isobel Whitcomb, Live Science, August 5, 2022]

After World War II, Japan banned macaque hunting. But this movement to conserve these monkeys proved to be a little too successful. The macaques’ two natural predators, the mountain hawk-eagle (Nisaetus nipalensis) and the Japanese wolf (Canis lupus hodophilax), are endangered and extinct, respectively. Without these predators to keep their numbers in check, macaque populations have exploded, increasing interactions with people.

Japan’s changing demographics could also be contributing to increasing conflict between macaques and humans, the authors of the 2021 study reported . Over the past 50 years, people have moved away from rural areas and towards cities. It’s possible that with fewer people living in these small villages, some of which have been abandoned, animals — including roving gangs of bold macaques — are moving in and taking over, according to the study. That change has a ripple effect on urban centers like Yamaguchi, NBC News reported. These farming regions used to act as a buffer between wildlife and cities. The disappearance of rural villages is bringing city-dwellers contact with wildlife more often.

Photo of Japanese Macaque Using an iPhone

The top award for the 50th Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards in 2014 by London’s Natural History Museum was a picture by Marsel Van Oosten of a wet monkey using an iPhone at Jigokudani Monkey Park. More than 42,000 entries from 96 countries were submitted for the prize that year. The story behind the photo began when a tourist said she was so desperate to get a close-up of this young Japanese macaque in a natural hot spring that she held her phone ever nearer to her subject.

John Brownlee wrote in ultofmac.com: Suddenly, the monkey snatched the device from her hand and retreated to the middle of the water to examine its prize. Marsel, who was leading a photographic tour at the time, saw the chance for a striking picture. His main challenge was the steam rising from the 42?C water into the freezing air. ‘I wanted a really low angle,’ he explains, ‘but that meant getting close to the water. My lens was cold and kept fogging up, making focussing almost impossible.’ [Source: John Brownlee, ultofmac.com, October 28, 2014]

At first, the macaque just fumbled with the gadget. It had no idea what it had stolen but was nonetheless pleased with its new toy. It even managed to let the built-in flash go off a few times. When it finally held the phone just as a human would, looking intently at the screen, Marsel was ready to capture the image he had envisaged.

Japanese Macaque Entertainers

Forms of Japanese macaque entertainment include monkeys in frilly dresses doing backflips at street festivals; primate pupils pretending to do math calculations at Nikko Saru Gundan; and piano-playing macaque videos posted to YouTube. A popular You Tube video in 2008 showed Japanese macaques serving beers and hot towels at the Kayabuki Tavern, in Utsonomiya, two hours north of Tokyo, As of 2020 the macaques were still at it. At that time when patrons were finished eating the monkeys climbed onto a makeshift stage at the back of the restaurant and modeled a collection of papier-mâché masks, including one that resembled U.S. president Donald Trump.

Perhaps the most famous Japanese macaque ever was Choromatsu, a trained animal featured in a famous Sony Walkman ad from the 1980s that showed a monkey listening to a Walkman with a very human-like relaxed, content expression on its face. Choromatsu regularly appeared in animal shows until his retirement in 1990. He died at the age of 29 in 2007.

Describing a monkey show in Nikko, Rene Ebersole wrote in National Geographic: “The monkeys wore soccer uniforms. Six Japanese macaques standing erect on leashes obediently kicked the ball up and down the turf as their human trainers and a crowd of spectators cheered them on in a mock Japan-versus-Brazil match. The monkeys in blue jerseys (Japan) looked sturdier, with fat tails sticking through the holes cut in their pants, but Brazil’s yellow lineup was quick — especially when player 10 stopped licking its hands. Suddenly, 10 got the ball, kicked, and scored. Victory! Japan’s team bowed. And the crowd exploded in laughter. [Source: Rene Ebersole, National Geographic, March 2020]

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This was just one of the warm-up acts to the main event in the indoor amphitheater at Japan’s Nikko Saru Gundan, a roadside attraction off Route 121 in Nikko City. Wandering around the courtyard, I saw a macaque in diapers and an orange leisure suit trounce a five-year-old visitor in a game of air hockey. Every time the puck came its way, the monkey smacked it back toward the challenger’s goal. Another monkey doled out fortunes. On the main outdoor stage, a male macaque in a kimono struck macho poses and leaped over high hurdles.

“Soon it was time to line up at the amphitheater, where a woman named Yuria Suzuki and her faithful primate, Riku, were headlining a parody of a popular Japanese police show and a circus act. When Sergeant Suzuki pretended to dispatch Captain Riku to a reported crime scene, he ducked behind the curtain and returned with a butcher knife — a rubber prop — in his head. In the circus finale, Riku, in blue polka-dot pants and a pink satin vest, vaulted across a chasm between staircases and executed a one-armed handstand on a tall, swaying pole.

“Today’s monkey performances resemble circus acts. Many animals are schooled using positive reinforcement and affection, but some are harshly disciplined and physically abused by their trainers, said Keiko Yamazaki, executive director of the Animal Literacy Research Institute and a board member of the Japanese Coalition for Animal Welfare.

Sarumawashi

Rene Ebersole wrote in National Geographic: “The presentation at Nikko Saru Gundan has roots in traditional Japanese culture. The acts evolved from a form of entertainment known as sarumawashi, monkey performance, based on the belief that the saru (monkey) is the protector of horses and the mediator between gods and humans, capable of dispelling evil spirits and clearing the path for good fortune. Like Kabuki, sarumawashi was performed in public theaters as long as a thousand years ago. [Source: Rene Ebersole, National Geographic, March 2020]

“Shuji Murasaki, a human rights activist and former actor, was among a small group of people who revived traditional sarumawashi when it had virtually disappeared in the 1960s. The performances he revived embrace the original Eastern ideas, Murasaki explained. “The animals are mediators between the audience and God — it’s not just a monkey show, it’s a ceremony.”

“In Japanese beliefs, every animal has a route to provide good fortune, he continued, and in the traditional sarumawashi act, each monkey trick has meaning. When the trainer spins the animal by the arms, the performance area is purified. When a monkey leaps through two hoops, it is spreading health and long life. Having monkeys walk on stilts extends wishes to children for wellness and happiness.

“It’s not easy training the animals to do such complicated stunts, Murasaki said. Even basic sarumawashi tricks can take more than a year to learn. The first step is teaching the monkey to sit on a small stool, he said. The trainer presents the stool and taps for the monkey to take a seat. If the monkey obliges, the trainer showers it with praise and affection. Next comes bipedal walking. “Very unnatural for monkeys,” Murasaki emphasized, which is why it can take months of leading the monkey by its hands until the animal starts doing this on command. Gradually, trainer and monkey work toward more elaborate moves and gymnastics. Tiny stilts are mastered, then replaced with taller ones. Murasaki and his son allow the monkeys to take the lead, he said, because the alternative — screaming or hitting — would discourage trust.

Japanese Macaques as Pests

Japanese macaques sometimes raid farms, eating things like soybeans, watermelons, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, potatoes and mushrooms. Every year, engai, monkey damage, results in millions of dollars in lost crops — mostly fruits and vegetables — and destruction of about 5,000 hectares of farmland. The total damage caused by monkeys in 2006 was estimated at US$17 million. Macaques damaged US$15 million worth of crops in 2012.

Some Japanese macaques make forays into towns and occasionally trash Shinto Shrines. The Japanese macaques around the town Odawara are notorious for sneaking into homes and shops to steal tangerines, sweet potatoes and candy bars. One man told AP, "They came right into my house. My wife tried to scare them with a mop, but they chased her all the way to the train station."

In Nikko and others places with many tourists, monkeys are known for breaking into cars are stealing food. Sometimes they confront people and don’t leave until they have been given a banana or some other such goodies. In Nikko there is one monkey that positions itself in road and leaps on the hood of any car that stops demanding food. Other try to leap through open windows of cars going up to 20mph. Sometimes packs surround tourists and snatch stuff out of their hands. In residential areas, people are afraid to leave the windows of their homes open or let their children walk unescorted to school out of fear of what monkeys might do.

Monkeys in many places have become very bold. The 100 or so monkeys in Okunikko resort in Nikko have attacked tourists and damaged houses and souvenir shops. Each year between 15 and 40 people are treated at local hospitals in the Okunikko area for monkey bites. It is believed that feeding by tourists caused the monkeys to lose their fear of humans and become aggressive. In other places there are stories about monkeys “molesting women and children.”

In Gunma Prefecture gangs of monkeys have broken into homes to steal food and attacked children walking to elementary school, running off with their snacks. Monkeys there invaded one home and stole vegetables and threw tiles off the roof. In June 2009, a single monkey cut off power ro 7,000 household in Aomori Prefecture. The monkey was found unable to move with burns on its hands and legs at a circuit breaker box. It is believed it received a severe jolt when it touched the box and that caused a short circuit and power failure.

Many researchers blame human forestry for aggressive monkey behavior. The mono forests that cover many areas are void of food, leaving the monkeys with no choice but to look for food in human-occupied areas. Some also say the declining population in villages is a factor as there are fewer people to watch over the farms and prevent monkey raids.

Aggressive Monkeys in the Mt. Fuji Area

Aggressive monkeys injured at least 81 people in the foothills of Mt. Fuji in and around the towns of Mishima and Susono in Shizuoka Prefecture, with most of the victims sustaining bites to the arm or leg, in a one month period in August and September 2010. Local authorities responded to problem by providing escorts for children on their way to school, hired a 150-strong monkey catch team and offering a reward of $2,300 to anyone who could trap an aggressive monkey in a room (laws prevent the seizure of monkeys with nets or cages without permission).

The primary culprit was female given the name Lucky (Rakkii), who attacked nearly 120 residents. She was ultimately caught and kept in a park in Mishima and was even featured in a television commercial to promote the city’s mayoral race. A few months later though she escaped from her cage when it was being cleaned. She was caught a day later and punished by having her marriage to another monkey, which had previously been arranged, called off. She was captured after a resident said she saw Lucky in a garden at a private house. A city employee who took care of her offered her bananas and grabbed her after calming her down.

Kyodo reported: “The macaque slipped out of a government-run nature park while a keeper was cleaning her cage. Officials raised the alert across Mishima. Park and city officials found Lucky at a public park a day later."Her capture was easy. We called her name repeatedly, and she came to us," city official Hidetsugu Uchida said. "She has been used to being called by her name." Lucky will be sent back to Mishima's Rakujuen Zoo, where she has become one of the most famous residents since her previous capture in October. Lucky lived wild in a mountainous area before her two-month biting spree in Mishima and other resort towns near Mount Fuji in central Japan. She attacked people from behind, targeting mostly children and elderly women and biting and scratching their arms and legs. Lucky proved tough to catch the first time, avoiding citywide monkey hunts for weeks. [Source: Kyodo, Associated Press, 1/24/2011]

Animal experts told officials that the monkeys in Mishima and Susono may have attacked people out mischievousness and said the attacks would probably end once the monkeys got bored. An official told the Yomiuri Shimbun, “The attacks started very suddenly. We don’t know why. Only the monkeys can tell you why they started.”

500 People Used to Catch Monkey That Attacked 18 People in Miyazaki

In August and September 2013, Faith Aquino reported in the Japan Daily Press, the city of Hyuga in Miyazaki Prefecture was menaced by a male macaque. The city went on a big-scale hunt, with the police force and volunteers deployed, to capture the creature. City officials announced on the next day that the suspected animal was already captured. [Source: Faith Aquino, Japan Daily Press, September 11, 2013]

“There are many local residents who have been bitten and injured,” a city official said. There were 18 people reported to have been injured because of the attacks. “It was a serious problem for our city,” the official added. Although the macaque was already captured, the police said that there are eyewitnesses who reported seeing another primate that has attacked humans in their area. Local residents are urged to take precautions. City officials are also on the lookout for the other monkeys that may have also attacked the community.

“The city’s hunt for the macaque commissioned two teams to capture the primate. The first was a team of 500 police, firefighters, and volunteers sent on Sunday. After hours of search in vain, another team was deployed the next day. Around 280 trained hunters took part on the search on the second day, According to city officials, the animal was found cornered in an abandoned house.

Japanese Macaque Attacks Leaves 42 Injured in the City of Yamaguchi

In the summer of 2022, a spate of attacks by Japanese macaques in the southwestern Japanese city of Yamaguchi injured 42 people, including children, over a period of several weeks. The attacks were unusual. Most of the injuries were scratches and bites but local people armed themselves with pruning shears anyway. "All of Yamaguchi city is surrounded by mountains and it's not rare to see monkeys," a city official from the agricultural department told AFP. "But it's rare to see this many attacks in a short period of time." [Source: CBS News, July 26, 2022]

CBS News reported: The injuries have so far been largely mild, but authorities are now turning to tranquilizer guns after traps they set failed to snare any of the pesky primates. "Initially only children and women were attacked. Recently elderly people and adult men have been targeted too," the official said. The city isn't even sure if the attacks are the work of multiple monkeys or a single aggressive individual. The intruders have in some cases entered by sliding open screen doors, or entering through windows.

City officials and police have been patrolling the area since the first attacks around July 8, but have yet to snare any monkeys. The story has made headlines in Japan in recent weeks, with local residents reporting regular invasions. "I heard crying coming from the ground floor, so I hurried down," one local father told the Mainichi Shimbun daily. "Then I saw a monkey hunching over my child."

According to Nextshark: The first reported attack was on an infant, who was badly scratched when a monkey invaded their home. “I was vacuuming when I heard the child crying, so I turned around and saw the monkey had grabbed the child who was playing on the floor by the legs, and it felt like it was trying to drag him outside,” the infant’s mother said. The monkey, described as 15 to 20 inches tall, also reportedly invaded a local kindergarten classroom at the Kojo High School and scratched the left big toe of a 4-year-old girl on July 14.[Source: Michelle De Pacina, Nextshark, July 19, 2022]

On July 15, the wild monkey reportedly injured four people. A woman in her 30s was drying laundry on her second-floor balcony in Ogori when a monkey bit her back, right upper arm and right knee. On the same day, the monkey reportedly entered the first floor of an apartment and left a 4-year-old girl with a scratch on the back of her leg. Twenty minutes later, a woman in her 40s in a nearby house was also scratched on her left leg. Another infant was reportedly scratched on her left leg at another residence an hour later.

Isobel Whitcomb wrote in Live Science: For close to one month, a mob of Japanese macaques has terrorized the city. The monkeys haven’t just attacked people in the streets — they have also learned how to open sliding doors and climb into windows, the BBC reported. In one incident, a monkey broke into a kindergarten classroom and leapt on a 4-year-old girl. In another incident, a monkey climbed through a window and supposedly tried to snatch a baby."I heard crying coming from the ground floor, so I hurried down," the baby's father told Mainichi Shimbun Daily, as reported by the Guardian. "Then I saw a monkey hunching over my child." [Source:Isobel Whitcomb, Live Science, August 5, 2022]

Yamaguchi Attacks Halted with “Execution” of 'Monkey Gang' Leader?

Nextshark reported: The Yamaguchi Prefectural Police sent patrols to the Ogori district of Yamaguchi City after people were bitten or scratched. The district mayor has distributed handwritten leaflets to inform the residents of the city about the fugitive monkey. Police have also set up traps and are said to be on high alert in the area. [Source: Michelle De Pacina, Nextshark, July 19, 2022]

According Live Science: Some residents began arming themselves with umbrellas and pruning shears to protect themselves from the macaques, The Guardian reported. The school where the kindergartener was attacked is keeping kids away from the playground, where macaques are still at large. [Source:Isobel Whitcomb, Live Science, August 5, 2022]

The Japanese macaque attacks described above ended when an individual monkey that is believed to have carried the majority of the attacks — and possible encouraged other macaques to join — was killed. Isobel Whitcomb wrote in Live Science: A marauding monkey that’s been harassing people in Japan was recently tracked down and executed by a team of "specially commissioned hunters." The macaque was part of a "monkey gang" that is responsible for more than 50 attacks in the city of Yamaguchi. [Source: Isobel Whitcomb, Live Science, August 5, 2022]

The recently euthanized monkey was a 4-year-old male implicated in at least one of the attacks in the city — although it’s unclear whether he’s the main culprit or not. Either way, it’s unlikely that the gang will leave Yamaguchi’s residents alone. But the loss of one member hasn’t stopped the rest of the monkey gang, Insider reported. Almost a week later, the macaques continue to wreak havoc on Yamaguchi.

Efforts to Control Japanese Macaques

Preventive measures to stop aggressive monkeys includes planting hot peppers, which monkey loath; putting nets around fields; and outfitting monkeys with collars that set off alarms and signals sent to mobile phones. In some places farmers use dogs to disperse the monkeys (monkeys have great fear of carnivorous dogs), bang pans and lure the out of fields into parking lots with peanuts. Some farmers have installed electric fences to keep Japanese macaques from raiding their crops. Some shopowners have armed themselves with slingshots and airguns but so far these weapons have done little to deter the monkey raids. In some places authorities have tried giving monkeys electric shocks to instill a fear of humans but many people complained the practice was cruel. To reduce the damages caused by Japanese macaques in the resort of Okunikko, the municipal government of Nikko passed city ordinances prohibiting the feeding of monkeys.

Rene Ebersole wrote in National Geographic: Farmers use scarecrows, and pyrotechnics to deter monkeys. In some municipalities, farmers can file complaints with agencies that manage programs to trap and kill nuisance animals. As a result, more than 19,000 monkeys are killed in Japan annually, according to the Ministry of the Environment. A byproduct of those eradication programs can be orphaned young monkeys, sometimes collected by concerned citizens and passed along to entertainment groups. [Source:Rene Ebersole, National Geographic, March 2020]

“One afternoon near Yamaguchi, on a sloping hillside where a man was tending his koi pond, I took a short walk on a country path with Shuji Murasaki, 72. He stopped and motioned toward a large empty metal cage about the size of four school buses, in a field. It was a trap designed to lure crop-raiding monkeys with food. The village had captured about 10 monkeys the previous week, Murasaki said. He didn’t know what happened to them — they probably were shot, though he wished they’d been sent to a zoo. Two tiny rescued monkeys found a home with his son, Kohei, who would train them to be performers, he said.

Japanese macaques learn quickly learn to get around the electric fences and see through the scarecrows. Some areas have had great success thinning out forests and bush in places where monkeys like to hide and clearing areas around school and other places that monkeys might come into contact with people to create a buffer zone to alert monkeys and humans of each others’ presence. Researchers have show that monkeys are more likely to act aggressively if they they have a place they can retreat to.

In 2014, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported: “The Environment Ministry and agriculture ministry will promote the use of large cages to capture wild Japanese macaques, which have been causing serious damage to agricultural crops in recent years. The ministries hope the new method will help meet their goal of reducing by half the number of troops of monkeys that damage farmlands over a period of 10 years to fiscal 2023. Cages are considered more effective than the conventional methods using traps or weapons, which remove only individual monkeys while largely leaving troops intact, according to the ministries.

Monkey Management in the Nikko Area

In April 2002, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported: “The Tochigi prefectural government will give lectures to local residents in Nikko in the prefecture to help them oust mischievous monkeys rampaging around the Okunikko area northwest of the city. The monkeys first bit and harassed the occasional tourist, but their mischief now has escalated into a serious problem for local agriculture and forests. Both the prefectural and the Nikko municipal governments have tackled the problem by giving monkeys electric shocks or by banning tourists from feeding them. However, their efforts have had little success. "We expect to use the brains of local people to combat this monkey menace," said an official of the prefectural government's natural environment division. Damage caused by monkeys last year to the agricultural sector was estimated at 24 million yen, while that to forests was 3 million yen. However, invisible damages have also emerged, such as workers in the agricultural and forestry industries giving up their jobs because they can no longer bear the years of monkey mischief. [Source: Yomiuri Shimbun, April 29, 2002]

A new strategy to combat the monkeys will make use of transmitters attached to about 30 of the pesky primates. The officials will track groups of the monkeys, then attempt to frighten them by shooting off fireworks before they get close to areas where humans live. The officials have been trained in how to use the receivers and fireworks and have studied the behavioral patterns and ecology of monkeys. The prefectural government will offer a lecture from the end of May to the local residents and those who are willing to join in the project. The government will train a group of specialists in the art of monkey combat and vows to get the better of the beasts in the end. The lecture will be offered about five times a year. However, the government says it will offer more lectures and lend receivers to local people when they are needed. In addition, from fiscal 2002, the government will strengthen its monkey patrol along the Irohazaka road, a famous sight-seeing spot near the city. The new system not only warns tourists of monkey attacks, but also instructs them on how to disperse the prehensile-tailed pests.

Officials said they have redoubled their vigilance and are now focusing on monkey management year round, rather than the spring to autumn tourist season. The prefectural government used to give electric shocks to captured monkeys to implant a sense of fear in them. However, even if this technique succeeded in breaking the spirits of one group of monkeys, another would come to take its place, which would have little effect on long-term monkey discipline problems, sources said. The electric-shock project lasted for only three months because tourists complained it was cruel. The effects of the 2000 municipal ordinance, prohibiting tourists from feeding monkeys, have been similarly unremarkable, sources said.

Killing Japanese Macaques and Using Dogs to Control Them

Of the monkeys that are killed, in most cases they are shot with guns. In some cases they are captured and then starved or drowned. In other places they are beaten to death. In some places $1,000 bounties are offered for the killing of troop leaders. Each year about 10,000 monkeys are captured. In August 2009, a hunter shot killed a fellow hunter during a monkey cull in Chiba Prefecture in a mountain area after mistaking the victim for a monkey. In January 2009, the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo said it would accept 20 trouble-making and crop-damaging monkeys from Shimokita Peninsula in Aomori Prefecture to prevent them from being put down.

Dogs have proved to be very effective chasing off monkeys. Labradors and German shepherds have been specially trained for three or four months to drive off monkeys. Sometimes the same facilities that are used to train police dogs and used to train monkey-hunting dogs.

As of 2008, 194 monkey-chasing dogs were being used in 42 municipalities in 21 prefectures in Japan. Describing dogs used on the Shimokita Peninsula in Aomori, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported: “When they are given the go-ahead the dogs set off into the nearby forested areas populated by monkeys. The forest is at first filled with monkey calls, but when the dogs bark. The calls stop and the monkeys retreat. Katagawa then sends the dogs in the direction of the retreating monkeys as they start to make noises again, driving them away from the edge of the farmland and into the mountains.”

In August 2009, a hunter was charged with mistakenly killing man during monkey cull in Chiba Prefecture. UPI reported: Police told Kyodo News they suspect Suminori Maeda, 51, was guilty of professional negligence. Maeda allegedly fired the shot that killed Masayoshi Murakoski, 72, at about 9:30 a.m. The men were in a mountain forest on a monkey cull. Investigators said Maeda told them he shot Murakoshi after mistaking him for a monkey. Murakoshi was rushing to join others in the hunting group because he heard monkeys were sighted, police said. [Source: UPI, August 23, 2009]

Japanese Macaque Killed After Attacking Two People in Tennessee

Describing an attack by a pet Japanese macaque in Shelbyville Tennessee, David Melson wrote in the Shelbyville Times-Gazette: A monkey was shot and killed by a Bedford County deputy Thursday morning after it attacked a woman and another deputy and terrorized a Frank Martin Road neighborhood. Michelle Pyrdum, 42, said she underwent surgery for a deep gash to her calf muscle after the monkey attacked her from behind in her driveway. "All I remember thinking is 'I have to get this thing off me," she said. [Source: David Melson, Times-Gazette Friday, August 5, 2011]

Cpl. Ronnie Gault of the Bedford County Sheriff's Department suffered two deep cuts to his arm while attempting to subdue the monkey after he and Capt. David Williams, Sr. arrived. Williams shot the monkey twice, the second shot proving fatal, after a shot by Gault failed to subdue it. Ricky and Wilma Smith owned "Yoshi," which Gault said was a 3½ -foot tall Japanese macaque, also known as a "snow monkey." Four other monkeys were removed from the Smith home by animal rescue organizations.

Pyrdum said she was shocked at the sudden bite. "I was waxing my truck and I didn't know it was back there. I felt this clamp on my leg. It took a chunk out of me," said Pyrdum, who was still woozy from medication after treatment for her wounds at Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro. "I was just standing in my yard and minding my own business. The monkey was on the garage at right when deputies arrived following a 911 call from Linda Pyrdum. The confrontation with Cpl. Ronnie Gault and Capt. David Williams Sr. occurred a short distance to the left. "I had to take my hand and get his mouth off of me. It clamped down on me.”

Pyrdum's father, Charles Pyrdum, said he heard Michelle screaming for help and wasn't initially sure what type of animal had attacked. "When I saw it I didn't know what it was," Charles said. "She was yelling, 'Daddy, get it off me.' I didn't have anything to hit it with." Charles said he followed the monkey as it ran away toward the Smith home. Family members said Michelle initially refused pain medication while standing in her driveway looking to see if the monkey would return. She said she received multiple stitches and will be taking anti-rabies medication for two weeks. Gault said he is receiving similar treatment.

The monkeys had received regular shots and veterinary checks some time ago but those records aren't up-to-date, said Brenda Goodrich, director of Bedford County Animal Control. Michelle's mother, Linda, said she was aware of the monkeys' presence in the neighborhood. "We knew that they were there because someone told us they had monkeys and one bit a neighbor about a year and a half ago. We'd never seen them," Linda Pyrdum said.

Deputies arrived shortly after 8 a.m. and began searching for the monkey. "He was a danger and threat to the entire neighborhood," Gault said. "The owner said he had the monkey pinned and the latch secured where he couldn't get out -- but he managed to get out." The monkey was found atop a garage at 419 Frank Martin Road, several houses down from Pyrdum's residence, deputies said."We went to 419 to see if we could see the owner and confronted the monkey," Gault said. "We had given the owner some time to try and see if he could get the monkey back into its cage. The monkey ran from him and directly toward me.”

Gault attempted unsuccessfully to physically control the monkey, which he said had been "friendly" with him several years ago during a call to the Smith home. "After he bit her he was ill and popping his teeth," Gault said. "When I shot him the first time it was in the right of the chest. It made him madder and that's when he went on the real attack. I didn't want to shoot him in the head.”

Gault said he attempted to use his shotgun to push away the monkey. "He went down but went right back up and pounced on me," Gault said. "I knocked him down with my gun and he came back up and pounced on me again and caught me on the arm. I was beating him off my arm with the shotgun barrel. "He hit the ground that time and David Sr. shot him with a shotgun. Then he ran around behind me and David shot him again and he didn't come back up." Bedford County Animal Control took the monkey's body and has sent its head to the state, Gault said. "I have several large gashes on my arm. No stitches, he said." Doctors want the wounds to heal from the inside in an attempt to fend off any diseases the monkey may have been carrying.

Image Sources: Japan-Animals blog, Wolfgang Kaehler, JNTO, Japan Zone, British Museum

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO), Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated March 2025