October 10, 2013
TOKYO (AFP) - Victims of an ill-tempered monkey that terrorised a town in western Japan are to be offered compensation, an official said on Thursday.
More than 1,000 professional hunters, firefighters and police officers were mobilised to snare the piqued primate after it set upon 18 people during a weeks-long rampage through Hyuga.
The wild macaque was finally cornered in a vacant house on September 9 after 280 people had spent the day searching for it. The monkey was put down shortly thereafter.
The municipal assembly of Hyuga, in Miyazaki prefecture, unanimously approved a bill to offer 20,000 yen ($205) to each person the male monkey had attacked.
Patrols were continuing around the streets in case of further danger, the official said.
"But we have not found any other monkeys threatening our people," said Kenji Yoshida, a city official. "The city has now returned to calm and normal."
Macaque monkeys are common in the wild throughout Japan, where the densely-wooded hillsides provide a habitat.
