Alcoholic Monkey Goes on Rampage, Attacks Booze Shops Across City

An alcoholic monkey has gone on a rampage in India, attacking liquor stores across his home city.

The ape in Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, has been spotted stealing and guzzling bottles of alcohol. The monkey has stolen the bottles from both shops and local citizens, according to media reports.

Rhesus macaque monkeys are native to India, and widespread throughout the country. Conflict between monkeys and humans has increased in recent years, with populations expanding.

Humans and macaque monkeys share 93 percent of their DNA.

A video posted to Twitter by Anurag Mishra shows the monkey drinking from a can of beer.

Anindya Sinha, a primatologist and professor at India's National Institute of Advanced Studies, told Newsweek that this is not the first time macaques have been observed consuming alcohol.

"Macaques are well known to chronically imbibe alcohol over prolonged periods of time, as has been demonstrated in the laboratory as well," Sinha said. "There are also fairly well-established, though unpublished, records of rhesus and bonnet macaques of northern and southern India respectively occasionally drinking alcohol, if they had a chance to do so from sources accidentally available to them."

A shopkeeper who owns a liquor store in the district has been particularly affected by the monkey's actions. The shopkeeper told NDTV that the monkey bites if humans attempt to chase it away.

Other shopkeepers in the area told the news outlet that they have reported the situation to the authorities, but so far nothing has been done.

District officers along with the Forest Department told NDTV that they are on the lookout for the monkey.

But primatologist Iqbal Malik told Newsweek that these circumstances do not usually occur on their own.

"When I came across monkeys sitting outside a liquor shop in the heart of the city I was astonished," Malik said. "[I] found out that it's the humans who start sharing their drink with monkeys. Soon, [the] monkeys start enjoying it. They get a little high, but not destructive."

Malik said she previously did a study on whether monkeys prefer human food. The monkeys usually only eat vegetation and occasionally insects.

"[I] learned that they rejected non-vegetarian patties after a sniff. However, they seem to enjoy their drink," Malik said.

Macaque monkeys can also cause problems for humans when there is competition for resources. As their habitat becomes smaller, monkeys may wander into villages in search of food and water.

Monkeys have also displayed aggressive tendencies towards human children in the past, but this usually only occurs when they are provoked or stressed.

Newsweek has contacted the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department for comment.