With no tourist handouts, hungry Bali monkeys raid homes

Villagers in Sangeh say the gray long-tailed macaques have been venturing out from a sanctuary about 500 meters (yards) away to hang out on their roofs and await the right time to swoop down and snatch a snack. Worried that the sporadic sorties will escalate into an all-out monkey assault on the village, residents have been taking fruit, peanuts and other food to the Sangeh Monkey Forest to try to placate the primates. "We are afraid that the hungry monkeys will turn wild and vicious," villager Saskara Gustu Alit said.

About 600 of the macaques live in the forest sanctuary, swinging from the tall nutmeg trees and leaping about the famous Pura Bukit Sari temple, and are considered sacred. In normal times the protected jungle area in the southeast of the Indonesian island is popular among local residents for wedding photos, as well as among international visitors . The relatively tame monkeys can be easily coaxed to sit on a shoulder or lap for a peanut or two.

Macaques eat bananas during feeding time at Sangeh Monkey Forest in Sangeh, Bali Island, Indonesia, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. Deprived of their preferred food source - the bananas, peanuts and other goodies brought in by the tourists now kept away by the coronavirus - hungry monkeys on the resort island of Bali have taken to raiding villagers' homes in the search for something tasty. Credit: AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati Read more

Made Mohon, the operation manager of Sangeh Monkey Forest, feeds macaques with donated peanuts during a feeding time at the popular tourist attraction site in Sangeh, Bali Island, Indonesia, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. Deprived of their preferred food source - the bananas, peanuts and other goodies brought in by the tourists now kept away by the coronavirus - hungry monkeys on the resort island of Bali have taken to raiding villagers' homes in the search for something tasty. Credit: AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati Read more

A worker feeds macaques during a feeding time at Sangeh Monkey Forest in Sangeh, Bali Island, Indonesia, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. Deprived of their preferred food source - the bananas, peanuts and other goodies brought in by the tourists now kept away by the coronavirus - hungry monkeys on the resort island of Bali have taken to raiding villagers' homes in the search for something tasty. Credit: AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati Read more

Macaques eat donated peanuts during a feeding time at Sangeh Monkey Forest in Sangeh, Bali Island, Indonesia, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. Deprived of their preferred food source - the bananas, peanuts and other goodies brought in by the tourists now kept away by the coronavirus - hungry monkeys on the resort island of Bali have taken to raiding villagers' homes in the search for something tasty. Credit: AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati Read more

Local residents feed macaques with food they brought to Sangeh Monkey Forest in Sangeh, Bali Island, Indonesia, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. Deprived of their preferred food source - the bananas, peanuts and other goodies brought in by the tourists now kept away by the coronavirus - hungry monkeys on the resort island of Bali have taken to raiding villagers' homes in the search for something tasty. Credit: AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati Read more

A worker prepares bananas to feed macaques during a feeding time at Sangeh Monkey Forest in Sangeh, Bali Island, Indonesia, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. Deprived of their preferred food source - the bananas, peanuts and other goodies brought in by the tourists now kept away by the coronavirus - hungry monkeys on the resort island of Bali have taken to raiding villagers' homes in the search for something tasty. Credit: AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati Read more