Ho Chi Minh City authorities have resorted to tranquilizer pistols to safely relocates five monkeys of a mischievous troop sighted in a residential area in District 12 in recent times. 

By Saturday afternoon, city forest rangers had captured five monkeys out of the troop that stormed Quarter 6 in the district's Thanh Xuan Ward, thanks to assistance from local authorities.

On Saturday morning, three of the five were safely sedated with tranquilizer pistol shots.

One of the three weighs around five kilograms, while each of the two others is roughly ten kilograms in weight.

On Friday, one monkey was sedated with a tranquilizer blowgun, while another was taken down with a tranquilizer pistol.

The five were sent to the Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Station, where they received proper care and returned to good health conditions.

According to a forest ranger, the rest of the vandalizing troop of monkeys dispersed after the first five were tranquilized.

Forest managers are working with local authorities to locate the other troop members in the neighborhood before sedating and fetching them to the rescue station.

“According to local residents, there are roughly ten long-tailed monkeys in the neighborhood, which means there are at least five still on the loose,” the ranger said.

“We are working to pin down the individuals before tranquilizing them.”

Regarding the origin of the troublemaking primates, some locals pointed to a troop of house monkeys in the neighborhood that broke free about ten years ago.

They migrated to the brushy area in the nearby waterfront and started propagating there.

As the trees and bushes in their habitat were cleared out recently, the monkeys were forced to split into small groups and search for food in the residential area.

They were seen stealing food from worship altars, as well as physically harming local households' pets, but did not cause any human injury.

The monkeys will be sedated and captured by forest rangers and local authorities, according to a plan.

They will be relocated to the Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Station, where they will receive care and training before being sent back to the wild.

The troop of monkeys has the characteristics of the macaque species, which is listed in Appendix 2 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), according to a representative of the city’s forest protection department.

Residents should not handle the animals themselves and should instead contact competent authorities, he added.

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