Police are on a mission to capture a monkey who has attacked 14 people in a span of 10 days in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. 

The Yamaguchi Prefectural Police sent patrols to the Ogori district of Yamaguchi City after people were bitten or scratched by a wild monkey since July 8. 

The first reported attack was on an infant, who was badly scratched when a monkey invaded their home.

“I was vacuuming when I heard the child crying, so I turned around and saw the monkey had grabbed the child who was playing on the floor by the legs, and it felt like it was trying to drag him outside,” the infant’s mother said.

The monkey, described as 15 to 20 inches tall, also reportedly invaded a local kindergarten classroom at the Kojo High School and scratched the left big toe of a 4-year-old girl on July 14. 

On July 15, the wild monkey reportedly injured four people. A woman in her 30s was drying laundry on her second-floor balcony in Ogori when a monkey bit her back, right upper arm and right knee.

On the same day, the monkey reportedly entered the first floor of an apartment and left a 4-year-old girl with a scratch on the back of her leg. Twenty minutes later, a woman in her 40s in a nearby house was also scratched on her left leg. Another infant was reportedly scratched on her left leg at another residence an hour later.

The district mayor has distributed handwritten leaflets to inform the residents of the city about the fugitive monkey. Police have also set up traps and are said to be on high alert in the area. 

Featured Image via yab報道CH (left), NHK (right)