Monkey Snatches Infant From Breastfeeding Mom, Kills Him

Awful news out of India
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 15, 2018 7:51 AM CST
Monkey Snatches Newborn From Mother's Arms, Kills Him
Monkeys enjoy early morning sun outside the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, on Dec. 22, 2010.   (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

Locals say Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, has seen an uptick in monkey attacks, and a recent mauling is a most tragic one. The BBC reports a 12-day-old infant has died after a monkey yanked him from his mother's arms while she was breastfeeding him in her home on the outskirts of Agra. The baby's father tells the Times of India that the front door of his house was open and that the monkey "barged inside ... and grabbed the child by his neck." People nearby ran after the monkey, which "only dropped [the baby] when people chased it with sticks and threw stones at it," a police supervisor says, per the BBC. The monkey ended up leaving the baby, named Arush, on a neighbor's roof. The infant's head had been bitten; he died of his injuries at the hospital.

Locals tell the Times that just minutes before that attack, the same monkey went after a teen girl, who suffered minor injuries. Monkey infiltration in the city is apparently a major issue. "[They're] everywhere in Agra," a local environmental activist tells Reuters, noting that the animals are being forced into the city as their natural habitats are increasingly disturbed by the growing city. "They are in all the … railway stations in the city, in hospitals, hotels, and roads." A resident adds to NDTV: "People do not dare to go to their terraces. Those who do have sealed their homes with iron mesh cages. You cannot leave your door open or sit in the sun." (Monkeys killed an elderly man by hurling bricks at him.)

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