YALA, THAILAND – National park officers captured a wild macaque suspected of killing a 67-year-old man in his remote home after a three-day hunt.
Fatal attack in remote orchard house
The incident occurred in a remote fruit orchard in Betong district, where Chaiyaphum Sae-Ung (67) was found dead in his house four days earlier. Evidence at the scene pointed to an attack by a wild Javan macaque, causing shock and fear in the rural community. An emergency task force of animal welfare workers and wildlife rangers was quickly formed to track down the aggressive animal.
Animal linked to pet female macaque
Investigators believed the key to the attack lay with a female macaque that the victim had apparently kept as a pet. The wild male likely returned to the area searching for this female, and the confrontation with the resident escalated into a deadly encounter.
“We had to proceed with the utmost caution because of its aggressive behaviour,”
said officers, who later described the operation.
Three-day pursuit with traps and tranquiliser darts
The hunt for the macaque proved difficult, with teams from Bang Lang National Park and regional authorities using special traps and tranquiliser darts. First, the female animal was removed from the area to lure the aggressive male, a strategy that ultimately succeeded. On 10 December around midday, a trap in the orchard near the crime scene closed, and the dangerous monkey was captured.
Monkey chaos in Lopburi highlights wider tensions
While officers in Yala pursued the killer macaque, a separate incident unfolded in Lopburi, where hundreds of monkeys escaped from a breeding facility. Police on the ground used slingshots to fend off the unruly animals, and city officials deployed firecrackers to drive them back into their enclosures. The incidents underscored growing conflicts between humans and wildlife in Thailand, especially where habitats overlap.
Experts warn against keeping wild animals as pets
Wildlife specialists said the Yala case was a stark warning, stressing that private ownership of wild animals was extremely dangerous and illegal. They noted that such practices blur animals’ natural fear of humans and can lead to deadly misunderstandings, as in the case of the killed retiree. Authorities were investigating how the pet macaque had been kept in the first place.
Uncertain future for captured macaque
Wildlife experts were now assessing the captured macaque, and a release back into the wild was considered highly unlikely because of its aggression and behavioural problems. Instead, it would probably be moved to a suitable rescue centre where it could live without posing a danger to the public. For the victim’s family and the shaken community of Betong, the capture at least brought a first sense of relief.