Village terrorised by wild monkeys after tourism plan backfires

The wild macaque monkeys were moved from nearby mountains to the village of Xianfeng. Photo / iStock

A Chinese village has become overrun with monkeys after a plan to increase tourism in the area spectacularly backfired.

CCTV News reported that the village of Xianfeng had hoped to boost its local economy by importing wild macaque monkeys to attract tourists.

The villagers had reportedly been inspired by Emei Mountain, a popular tourist spot famous for its wild macaques. Back in 2003, they spent 28 days relocating 73 monkeys from the nearby mountains.

Posted by CGTN on Tuesday, 14 June 2016

Initially the plan was a success and attracted thousands of visitors to the area. However, after the main investor Zhou Zhenggu died in 2014, the company looking after the monkeys collapsed - and the animals continued to breed.

Eventually, the monkey population reached over 600. With no one to feed or look after them, villagers hoped they would return to the mountains they came from.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case and the monkeys began destroying crops and fighting, leaving the villagers terrified. There were also reports that the animals had grown so used to people, they would boldly steal food and had even attacked tourists.

While half of the monkeys were successfully trapped and returned to the mountains, the remaining half were determined to stay - with the villagers left resigned to co-existence.