After yesterday’s false alarm regarding a tiger sighting in Ma On Shan (spoiler alert: it was a leopard cat), here is a story where some animals have been getting up to some real um, monkey business.
Two photos — one of two macaque monkeys climbing through a kitchen window and another of the mess they caused — have been shared thousands of times over Facebook.
According to a hk01 report from Monday evening, the photos — which were believed to have been posted to a closed Facebook group for people living in Sha Tin — were taken inside the flat at May Shing Court in Tai Wai.
The website reports that monkeys finding their way inside apartments is a regular occurrence for residents, who are calling on the authorities to do more to tackle the problem.
According to Sha Tin district councillor Wong Hok-lai, May Shing Court is vulnerable to break-ins from monkeys because the rear of the housing estate is next to the Shing Mun Reservoir, which is also a habitat for the city’s macaque monkeys.
Ming Pao also reported that residents from neighboring housing estates have seen monkeys climb as high as the 24th floor on some apartment blocks in the area, and that some monkeys have even robbed unsuspecting pedestrians of their groceries.
One female resident told hk01 that while she was walking home, a monkey emerged out of nowhere and snatched bread from her, twice.
Another female resident surnamed Wong, told the website she has to take another route home in order to avoid the monkeys, adding that traps set up by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department on the hillside are now useless because the monkeys have figured out what they are and how to avoid them.
A 7-Eleven employee working near the housing estate even told hk01 that monkeys have on occasion robbed them of soy milk, buns, and potato chips.
According to the AFCD’s website, the monkey species living in Hong Kong are the Rhesus Macaque, the Long-tailed Macaque, and their hybrids. These monkeys are mainly distributed in Kam Shan, Lion Rock, Shing Mun Country Parks and Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve.
