Photo: MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP via Getty Images
While New York has people sucker punching at random, a tourist town in Thailand has a roving gang of monkeys terrorizing its population. Pick your poison, I guess. According to the Daily Mail, law-enforcement officers in Lopburi, Thailand, have had to arm themselves with slingshots and tranquilizers in order to protect themselves. Have they considered that maybe this town just belongs to the monkeys now?
“I am aware of the potential danger from monkeys,” said Police Major General Apirak Wechkanchana. “They have started to pose a threat to tourists and locals. The slingshots now being carried by our officers will help to threaten the monkeys when necessary.” PETA warriors, stand down: The cops aren’t actually hitting the monkeys. The slingshots are mostly an attempt to shoo them away.
Despite there being a specialty unit for dealing with Lopburi’s primate problem, the monkeys are too smart for the cops. Apparently, the monkeys know what the tranquilizer guns look like now and know to run away when they see them. “We had to hide our faces and conceal the tranquilizer guns so the monkeys wouldn’t see them,” said one cop on the monkey beat.
I really recommend watching the video on the Daily Mail site as a nice Friday treat. It’s a good way to put things into perspective if you’re having a bad day: Well, things could really be worse for me. I could be the guy tasked with trying to negotiate with an enormous gang of monkeys. And if you are that guy … have you considered a career pivot?
