A troop of wild monkeys located in an Indian town have reportedly killed up to 250 dogs out of revenge. Locals say that the monkeys throw some dogs to their death from very tall buildings and treetops, according to News 18.
News 18 spoke with some of the locals in Lavool, and they said that the monkeys began to take revenge last month after a pack of dogs killed an infant monkey.
Since then, residents say that as soon as the monkeys see a dog, they grab and drag them to the top of trees and tall buildings.
Locals also told News 18 that when they reach the top of the building or tree, the monkeys would throw the dogs, letting them plummet to the ground.
The media outlet said that nearly every dog in the town had been killed. So the locals tried to catch the monkeys, but many of the people got hurt trying to do so.
The monkeys are now targeting small children, frightening the locals in the community. No children have been hurt, but locals fear that they may be next on their revenge list.
According to Gizmodo, primates are capable of practicing revenge.
“In studies of primates in captivity, in social groups in zoos, we’ve seen that when an individual is attacked in some way, the likelihood of them attacking someone related to their aggressor is higher,” said Stephane Poindexter, an assistant professor at SUNY Buffalo, whose research focuses on primate behavioral ecology.
“Typically, there’s a preference for attacking a third-party associated with the original aggressor, as opposed to the actual aggressor,” Poindexter told Gizmodo.
