Lop Buri residents are upset by suggestions from national parks authorities that they have been harassing the macaques that have become a major nuisance in the town.
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation recently came up with a plan to relocate 2,200 macaques living in and around downtown Lop Buri to a facility in tambon Po Kao Ton.
About 100 billboards were seen on Monday around the Prang Khaek area in tambon Tha Hin to protest against the department, which has been accused of blaming local residents for harassing the monkeys.
As many as 5,000 resident monkeys are threatening the safety of local pedestrians and businesses in the town 180km north of Bangkok, say residents. The fearless monkeys, after years of being fussed over by tourists, have seized the area and intensified their attempts to threaten humans, local people say.
A local resident said the DNP had promised to work on the issue many times, but action seems to have been postponed despite a memorandum of understanding reached two months ago.
Another resident said the community had also submitted petitions about macaque management to many parties, including the Senate and the prime minister, but had received no responses.
“The billboards are meant to show how such a problem has turned a liveable place into a leftover one,” he added.
Many of the billboards, however, were torn down by the macaques the same evening.
In one recent incident captured by security cameras, macaques were seen snatching food from four monks and 15 novices in the Prang Sam Yod area in tambon Tha Hin.
Another widely circulated video from April 16 showed a motorcycle rider being harassed by the monkeys, which almost led to a car crash.
Padej Laithong, chief of the Conservation Office at the DNP, said the department could not move the monkeys yet right because Lop Buri municipal workers were still building enclosures for them. The work is expected to be finished in mid-May.
“We don’t want to escalate the conflict. We have understood their problems and tried our best to mitigate the problem,” he said. “But we can do nothing if the cages are not ready.”
The three enclosures are expected to hold around 1,000 monkeys.
The department estimates that 2,200 monkeys are living in the town, and even though many have been sterilised, returning them to their former locations means the problem persists.
Under the current plan, all the monkeys will be moved to enclosures under the management of the municipality. If more space is needed, some animals might be sent to Wat Prabat Namphu, a temple in Muang district of the province.