The Sawara Police Station received reports from residents on 6:40am on Aug. 30 of around 70 monkeys in a residential area of Wakiyama, Sawara-ku. Later that afternoon, more reports were received of around 20 monkeys in residents’ gardens in the same area. Police tried to scare the monkeys away with a loud siren. After eating crops in the garden, the monkeys fled. In Miyazaki’s Hyuga City, there have also been recent monkey sightings – including incidents in which a total of 7 civilians were attacked and injured. On Aug. 28 and 29, a monkey entered a temple for the fourth time in one month (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VZj_xTI7mM).
The monkeys have not yet been caught. Specialists say the recent heat-wave may have caused the strange behaviour of the monkeys; it’s possible that the hot weather dried the water sources available in the mountains, so they descended upon the city looking for water in a river close to the residential area. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 9/2
