Yamaguchi town suffers spate of monkey attacks
July 17, 2022
8 people suffered attacks by monkeys in the space of one week in the town of Ogori in Yamaguchi Prefecture.
The latest of the attacks was at around 8:40 pm on July 15, when a woman in her 30s attacked by a monkey on the balcony of her apartment in Ogori Shinmachi 3-chome. She was bitten on the back and other parts of her body on the balcony of her apartment in Ogori Shinmachi 3-chome, Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
According to Yamaguchi Minami Police, the woman was drying laundry on a second-floor balcony when a monkey 40 to 50 cm in length suddenly jumped down from above and bit her back, right upper arm, and right knee. When the woman screamed, the monkey fled to the residential area to the east. Her son, who lived with her, heard her scream and called for an ambulance.
At around 6:50 am on the same day, a monkey entered the first floor of another apartment in the area and scratched a 4-year-old girl on the back of her left leg. 20 minutes later, a woman in her 40s who was on the first floor of a nearby house was scratched on her left leg by a monkey and an infant was scratched on her left leg by a monkey at another residence an hour later.
These are the latest in a series of monkey attacks in the area since July 8 when another infant was badly scratched. This girl’s mother said, “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.” Photos shared by the mother and shown on a local TV news segment show some quite severe injuries to her baby’s leg.
A 3rd grade elementary school boy was also scratched by monkey at school on July 11 and a 4 year old girl also received light injuries from a monkey in her classroom at a local nursery school before the teachers chased it away.
Prefectural police are reported to be on high alert and patrolling the area and traps have been set.
NHK News | NHK News Yamaguchi | Yamaguchi Asahi Broadcasting
UPDATE July 19, 2022
There were three more incidents of monkeys attacking people in the Oguri area of Yamaguchi City from the night of July 17 to the early morning of July 18.
According to Yamaguchi Minami Police, at around 7:20 pm on July 17th, a monkey opened a screen door on the first floor of a house and scratched the left leg of a woman in her 70s who was in the kitchen.
About 45 minutes later, a man in his 80s opened his kitchen door to be confronted by a monkey which bit him.
At 3:20 am on January 18, a monkey broke through a screen door into a first-floor apartment and bit a woman in her 50s on her left leg. The monkey fled when the woman screamed.
Police are urging people to lock their windows as well as doors but also the windows as there have been a number of cases of monkeys getting into places through unlocked windows.
UPDATE July 21, 2022
Four more people sustained light injuries from monkeys in the Oguri area of Yamaguchi City between the night of July 19 and July 20. There have now been 20 reported monkey attacks in the area since August 8, and a total of 21 people have been injured.
According to Yamaguchi Minami Police, at around 8:05 pm on July 19th, a monkey bit and scratched a boy on the playground of Kamigo elementary school At around 6 am the following morning, a woman in her 80s was cleaning outside her house when she was attacked causing her to fall and suffered abrasions on her face. Then, at around 7:20 am, a monkey scratched the leg of a woman in her 60s who was hanging out her laundry in front of her house. Later, at around 3:30 pm, a junior high school boy was also scratched on his right arm at Kamigo Elementary School.
