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["Josh Greenman" <josh.greenman AT gmail.com>]

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/9587
(with video)

Monkey creates commotion at Tokyo subway station

Wed, 08/20/2008 - 2:15pm

If you'll be traveling on Tokyo's subway this week, prepare for a
simian encounter. This morning, a wild monkey scampered around ticket
machines and perched itself on top of the electronic
departures-and-arrivals board at Shibuya station, one of the city's
busiest.

About 30 police officers tried to coax the creature down (no word on
whether bananas were used as a lure), while commuters recorded videos
on their cellphones. In the end, the monkey got away, bolting out of
the station with TV crews hot on its tail.

It was one of several recent sightings of wild monkeys in Tokyo. The
simians normally live in mountains far outside the city. In rural
areas, they are considered a crop-ravaging menace, a problem also
encountered in India, where earlier this year one state announced a
plan to train youths to sterilize monkeys with lasers.