First batch of 27 Lopburi macaques coming to terms with their new home

The relocation initiative is the province’s attempt to control the increasingly aggressive macaque population that stole food and attacked people, causing injury to several individuals.

Officials from the Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and provincial executives led by deputy governor Songphol Paenkaew and Muang Lopburi mayor Jamroen Salacheep were involved in the mission on Thursday.

A department official said the first batch of monkeys – 24 males and 3 females – had been released into the caged habitat that includes a pool and swinging vines made from motorcycle tyres.

All the macaques have been spayed, tagged, and passed a physical checkup to ensure that they were in a suitable condition to acclimatise to the new environment, he added.

Officials at the monkey garden will spend the next two weeks monitoring the animals’ health, behaviours, and how they adjust to the new setting before the next batch of around 200-300 monkeys will be transported to the garden by month’s end.

Department officials will also take this pilot period as an opportunity to test the strength of the cage and other systems, namely feeding, wastewater management, lighting and temperature control, as well as general sanitary.

A reporter from The Nation said the 27 monkeys seemed enthusiastic about their new homes, spending their first day exploring every corner, swimming in the pool and swinging on the tyres.

Macaques have been an iconic animal of the province in central Thailand for generations, sparking the colourful annual Monkey Buffet Festival that attracts domestic and foreign tourists.

Four variants of macaques have been found in Lopburi: Crab-eating and rhesus macaques, which are the majority, and pigtailed, and stump-tailed macaques, which are found in smaller numbers.