Searching for Snacks!

Monkeys in Bali have resorted to raiding villagers’ homes in search of food as they have been deprived of their stable source of food i.e. tourists. 

Residents of Sangeh village have said that the macaques have been venturing out of the sanctuary about 500 meters away to loom around on their roofs waiting for the right opportunity to grab some food. They are also seen on roofs removing tiles and dropping them to the ground. 

About 600 of the macaques live in the sanctuary which is quite popular among international and local visitors. The monkeys are generally easy to coax to sit on a shoulder for a peanut or two. 

In the pre-pandemic times, tourism was the main source of income for Bali, which welcomed more than 5 million foreign visitors annually with the Sangeh Monkey Forest typically having about 6,000 visitors a month. 

The macaque is an omnivore but can eat plants found in the jungle, but those in the Sangeh Monkey Forest have had enough human interaction that they seem to prefer other food items.

Agencies