A pack of 30 Taiwanese macaques overran a school in Yunlin County’s Linnei Township (林內) for about 30 minutes on Wednesday morning, destroying one surveillance camera as they tried to steal students’ breakfasts.
Macaque invasions have been happening for about a year, Yuanming Junior High School principal Ting Ching-feng (丁清?) said, adding that Wednesday’s incident had the largest group so far.
“Normally we only see groups of about 10 who try to slip into the school kitchen to steal some food,” Ting said.
Photo provided by Yuanming Junior High School via CNA
The macaques wandered into the school, showing no fear of humans, and tried to grab the students’ breakfasts right out of their hands, Ting said.
They caroused around the school for about 30 minutes before the school faculty succeeded in chasing them away, although several macaques were seen loitering outside the school walls, Ting said.
Upon hearing of the incident, Yunlin County Councilor Chiu Shih-wen (邱世文) informed the Yunlin County Department of Agriculture, asking that the situation be resolved.
The school is near the Longguomai Path (龍過脈), so it is likely that the monkeys are visiting due to a food shortage in the mountains or because there are fewer tourists feeding them, Forestry Conservation Division Director Chang Wen-tung (張文東) said.
“We will continue to put up signs warning tourists not to feed macaques and will use public funds to purchase paintball guns so that the school can scare them off,” he said.
Yunlin County Department of Education Deputy Director Lin Hui-jung (林慧蓉) said the bureau would provide assistance to the school after it received the Department of Agriculture’s assessment.
Taiwanese macaques were on the conservation list from 1989 to 2019. Even though they are no longer on the list, the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) prohibits hunting or trapping them. Breaches of the act carry a fine of NT$60,000 to NT$300,000.
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