Indonesia traps monkey to end rampage that wounded 18 people
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A long-tailed macaque in Singapore’s Pulau Ubin in 2025.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
- An adult long-tailed macaque on Sumatra island attacked 18 people over two weeks, causing injuries that required stitches and rabies shots.
- The monkey was trapped on Aug 6, and 40 schools in Tembilahan were closed with online learning until the situation improves.
- Tests will be conducted to check for diseases, amid concerns that other monkeys may also be involved in attacks due to habitat loss.
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JAKARTA – Animal trappers have cut short the two-week rampage of a monkey that randomly attacked 18 people on Sumatra island in Indonesia and caused dozens of schools to close in fear.
The animal, an adult long-tailed macaque, wounded 18 residents of the town of Tembilahan, biting and clawing at its victims, most of whom were targeted when they were alone. Those injured included children and elderly people.
“As of today, there were 19 attacks, with 18 victims. One victim was attacked twice,” Tembilahan fire and rescue service head Junaidy Ismail told AFP on Aug 7.
Some required over a dozen stitches and rabies shots.
The monkey was caught on Aug 6 in a trap set in town, and the rescue service issued a video on Aug 7 showing it alive, seemingly stressed, in a cage.
Town official Ari Syuria urged residents to remain cautious as the monkey might have been part of a gang.
“The concern is that there may be other monkeys attacking people,” Ari said in an Instagram post.
Forty schools remained shuttered on Aug 7, with three days of online learning ordered for hundreds of Tembilahan pupils.
Doors will reopen on Aug 10 if the situation is deemed safe, the local government said in a statement.
‘Easy food’
The monkey has been transferred to Pekanbaru, the capital of Sumatra’s Riau province, where the nature conservation agency will carry out blood and observational tests.
“We want to establish whether the monkey is carrying any diseases,” agency official Ujang Holisudin told AFP.
Human-animal conflicts are common in the vast South-east Asian archipelago, especially in areas where the clearing of rainforest to make way for palm oil plantations is shrinking the habitats of animals such as monkeys, elephants and tigers.
Puji Rianti, a biology lecturer at IPB University south of Jakarta, said some monkeys have also learnt to associate humans with food.
“It’s not easy to look for food in the forest... It is easier to get food by living near humans... by stealing,” she told AFP by telephone.
It was also possible that the rampaging monkey was a former pet released into the wild, Puji said. AFP
