Starving monkeys invade local administrative office in West Sumatra as local tourism site closes due to COVID-19

A group of monkeys invaded the administrative office of Pakan Sinayan Village in Payakumbuh, West Sumatera on Wednesday (15 April 2020) at 10.30am local time.
The local authority believed the invasion was caused by the monkeys having starved after the closure of the Ngalau tourism site in March due to COVID-19.
According to Pakan Sinayan Administrative Village Chief Zailendra, the monkeys in the area have become rampant since that closing because no more tourist feeds them.
“They are used to being fed by the visitors at that tourism site. They are also used to eating leftovers in the SDN 59 Payakumbuh primary school, which happened to be near our office,” said Mr Zailendra.
When the incident happened, there were two officers in the village administrative office.
“At first, those monkeys were gathering in the yard and around the office. Then slowly their number became larger.
“Afterwards, they ran into the office and we locked ourselves up in the filing room,” said Ayu, one of the two officers.
According to Ms Ayu, the group of monkeys ransacked the file cabinets, overturned the computer equipment, and opened the drawers in the office.
Later, they ate all the food they could find in the office, including the officers’ breakfast and snacks.
She added that while there was no major damage to the office assets, officers were traumatised by the incident.
Mr Zailendra told ANTARA that his administrative officials will anticipate any such attacks in the future will contact the related authorities if things spiral out of control.