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[gregory nahas <lettherebemonkeys AT yahoo.com>]

Monkey Hunt After 23 Women Attacked
Tue Dec 3, 8:12 AM ET  Add Oddly Enough - Reuters to
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TOKYO (Reuters) - Monkey business is anything but
funny for one rural Japanese town where a roving
simian has bitten 23 women over the past two days. 
  
Officials in Shimosuwa, some 112 miles northwest of
Tokyo, turned out with cages and tranquilizer guns
Tuesday in an attempt t-o trap the beast. 

"The monkey has been causing damage by stealing fruit
since October, but this is the first time it has
actually harmed people," a town official said. 

Among the animal's victims was a 27-year-old
television announcer, who was bitten on the back of
the leg early on Tuesday, apparently while preparing
for a shoot. Most of the other victims were attacked
while taking out household garbage. 

"We hope to capture the monkey or chase it back into
the woods permanently, but if the worst comes to the
worst we may have to shoot it," the official said. 

Asked why the monkey's victims were all women, the
official said: "I believe that monkeys attack things
that seem weaker than they are. It wasn't, of course,
because it liked women." 

Although wild monkeys are native to some areas of
Japan, Shimosuwa is not one of them. 

Officials in another municipality plagued by monkeys
took a novel approach to the problem earlier this year
-- the city of Shibata, 160 miles northwest of Tokyo,
used government subsidies meant to combat unemployment
to hire four people as monkey chasers. 







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