Monkeys pillaging homes in Ayutthaya due to floods

After months of flooding, residents in Ayutthaya are dealing with a different pox of monkeys. Hungry monkeys struggling to find food in the heavy rains have taken to invading local neighbourhoods and homes in search of a meal. Many districts in the central province have been pounded by rain since August, overflowing rivers like the Chao Phraya and straining dams like Pasak Jolasid.

Runoff from the rivers and dams swollen by torrential storms has flooded districts like Sena. That district is the home of Wat Po, known popularly as a monkey temple, where primates gather and live. Those monkeys often rely on tourists visiting to keep them fed, but the floods have dampened tourism severely, according to reporting from The Nation.

Over 100 monkeys live at or around the temple, and they are getting desperate for food substitutes. While they once feasted on fruit and eggs that locals and tourists would leave for them, they are now scrounging for leaves from the trees at the temple. Monkeys being fed at the temple is so common that a special canteen was built in a small pavilion where visitors left food gifts and monkeys came to dine.

In their search for food, the monkeys are swimming through the flood waters, drifting to local homes and the living accommodations of the monks at the temple. They are scavenging the homes, tearing up trash bins and going through kitchens in search of morsels to eat.

Villagers lament that this plague of monkeys is just adding to their struggle as they are affected by the floods at least as much as the animals are. Trying to protect their homes and their livelihoods is hard enough during floods without having to worry about pillaging monkeys, as one village described.

“The monkey invasion has added another burden for monks and villagers, who are already suffering after months of flooding.”

The monkeys are weathering out storms as 963 communities with over 66,000 homes are affected by flooding. Farms of more than 13,000 rai have been damaged as 14 of the 16 districts in the province are flooded. In the historic former capital, 70 historical sites and temples are at risk of collapse from the deluge of water and the erosion it causes.