How to deal with an aggressive wild monkey?

That is probably the burning question that residents in the Segar area of Bukit Panjang have, as they continue to live in a heightened state of anxiety, while the monkey eludes capture after injuring an elderly resident.

Various media had reported that the wild macaque had attacked an elderly man named Tan Kim Leng on Monday morning, at a void deck in Segar. The long-tailed macaque bit Tan's leg from the back, resulting in him being hospitalised for his injuries.

From photos posted online, which showed quite a lot of blood lost near the bench where the incident occurred, it was clearly a brutal attack.

According to the Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC Member of Parliament Liang Eng Hwa, this macaque was one of the two that have been breaking into household units at Segar. Its partner was caught last November, and this lone macaque had become "more aggressive" over time as it continues to roam around freely in the neighbourhood.

Residents have complained to the media, that the macaques have also stolen food from homes, bitten other residents and scratched children at the playground.

As you can see from this video, the lone macaque still at large can even climb up to high level units:

There are other sightings of macaques in the neighbourhood too:

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now police has a new duty, chasing away monkeys

A post shared by nasrina (@mrsnasrina) on Apr 8, 2017 at 2:27am PDT

In his earlier Facebook post, Liang sought 'stronger measures' from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) to subdue this macaque.

However, for the past one week, the macaque has proven to be extremely elusive. As such, a Segar Town Hall meeting was held on Apr 19 night to update residents about the situation.

In response to this attack, Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Singapore) or ACRES is seeking to work with AVA, to safely remove and rehabilitate the macaque for relocation.

ACRES highlighted that this macaque probably became fearless of people due to public feeding and harassment over time.

A team from ACRES was still trying to catch the macaque this morning as reported by STOMP:

Top photo from Segar Gardens, Dayah Papaya,Kogelavani Uthuravathy Facebook

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