The 800-year-old city of Lop Buri in Thailand was turned into a make-shift battleground on Thursday 12 March. Two rival monkey ‘gangs’ clashed due to the lack of available food as a result of the sudden drop in tourists.
Lop Buri is known for its large population of crab-eating macaques (Macaca fascicularis). These long-tailed monkeys have become a major tourist attraction.
This is because it is one of only a few places in the world where you can witness thousands of macaques roam free. It is also believed that these monkeys bring good luck to people.
However, it seems as though their luck has run out. The spread of COVID-19 has resulted in a drop in tourist arrivals at Lop Buri, just like many other places around the world. This resulted in the two monkey factions clashing in a fierce battle over what little food is left in the ancient city.
Sasaluk Rattanachai, a local resident, posted the video to his Facebook profile where it quickly went viral.
Watch the video below:
In an interview with local news site Khaosod English, Rattanachai had this to say about the brawl: ‘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 [the temple].’
Thankfully the fight saw no casualties, and by late afternoon city residents had laid out food offerings at the temple, which helped ease tensions between the two groups.
Image: Facebook/Sasaluk Rattanachai
