Firstly, condolences to the family who lost a newborn baby (just 4 days old).  Its indeed sad and tragic to read news like this, especially when a life is lost for no reason.  As Hindus, we can only take it as karma and move on with life. God has other plans for the baby.

Anyway, my opinion is about blaming the animal (monkey of macaque type). According to one expert Dr S Vellayan, its one of the two species as mentioned below:

If a monkey killed the infant in Seremban, the perpetrator was likely to be either the long-tailed macaque (macaca fascicularis) or pig-tailed macaque (macaca nemestrina), said an expert.

Associate professor Dr S. Vellayan, one of the country’s pioneers in primatology and based in Universiti Teknologi Mara, said the two species were aggressive and had bitten human beings.

“We can determine whether the baby was bitten by a monkey by looking at the bites and scratches,” he said in an interview, adding that it was usually the males which tended to be aggressive.

“If the monkey had carried away and killed the baby, it could have entered the house following development encroachment into its habitat,” he said.

He advised the public to not make direct eye contact with monkeys which might feel threatened and become aggressive.

“To ward off the monkeys, people could keep dogs, use small fire crackers or laser pointers to cause fright,” he said.

Malaysian Nature Society head of environment education division Shan Mugaraj said long-tailed macaques were persistent and could turn aggressive when they did not get what they wanted, such as food.

Pig-Tailed Macaque from www.sabah.gov.my

Long-tailed Macaque from travel.mongabay.com

While its easy to blame the monkey for the death and kill it, I believe that’s just a symptom of a more serious underlying problem. We are talking about animals with their own basic survival instincts. They don’t differentiate babies from food. When development happens and animals get displaced, this is one of possible outcomes. We heard about snakes, boars, bats, monkeys, etc entering houses before this. Why? Why the development process didn’t consider relocating the animals? Is it because these are not endangered species? Or just for convenience sake and to reduce red-tape in order to develop the land? Its time to talk about relocating the animals when redeveloping land. It must be supervised by a certified NGO and relevant government department, to ensure developers don’t take easy way out by culling animals.

I notice more monkeys around the Cyberjaya-Pulau Meranti road nowadays. Maybe same story is recurring. The jungle is being cleared for more development. Where are the animals going to go? Don’t be surprised if you find monkeys roaming in Lim Kok Wing Uni or causing accidents when crossing the roads.

Also, the news mentioned that the family kept a monkey as pet. Maybe this is an added attraction to the macaque?

Here’s the sad story:

In mere minutes, a young woman turned from a happy mother to a grieving one when she lost her four-day-old baby to a wild monkey that was shot dead several hours later.

In the 1.15pm tragedy yesterday, the macaque stole into the living room; snatched the child and fled up the roof of the house. The baby fell to the ground and died.

The mother, V. Revathy, 26, had left her first-born child in the living room of the single-storey house near Taman Happy Garden to use the toilet. The baby’s body was discovered later outside the house with her face and neck badly bitten. She was rushed to the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital here where she was pronounced dead.

Young mother Revathy and her husband V. Neru at the hospital. Inset: A medical officer taking the baby’s body to the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital mortuary.

Revathi’s father-in-law A. Valayutham, 70, was in the living room with the newborn but had gone to get a glass of water when the tragedy occurred.

“We frantically searched all over the house and saw her body covered in blood lying outside the house,” he said.

Valayutham added that he had noticed a few monkeys outside the house compound at that time.

The area where the family stayed was sandwiched between two residential areas with a foliage of trees nearby where there were monkeys.

Negri Sembilan Wildlife and National Parks director Ishak Muhamad said the macaque was shot dead at 4pm.

“We suspect the macaque was rummaging for food inside the house. It could have taken the baby to the roof thinking the newborn was food.

“The baby died when it fell to the ground. The monkey had apparently released the newborn, probably because it was alarmed by the parents’ shouts,” Ishak said yesterday.

He added that the parents had called the Fire and Rescue Department at 2.15pm, which immediately contacted the Wildlife and National Parks Department.

“We reached the house at about 3pm and set off with the baby’s father to look for the macaque,” he said.

Ishak said department officers saw the macaque in some bushes several metres from the house at about 4pm.

The macaque was shot when it began to act aggressively.

Ishak added that it was the first such case in the state, and believed the male monkey was attracted by a female kept in captivity as a pet by the family.

“This is very unusual. Normally, these monkeys simply steal food or pluck fruit from the yard,” he said.

The baby’s father, lorry driver V. Neru, 29, who was not at home when the incident occurred, said he could not believe that such a thing could have happened.

“I rushed to the hospital only to be told that she was gone.

“She was our bundle of joy and we were looking forward to spending many happy years with her … I just cannot believe she’s gone,” he said.

R. Shanty, 35, who lives nearby said it was common to see monkeys in groups of three or four in the area.

“A while back, my pet dog was attacked by these monkeys. Its badly-bitten body was thrown from a tree.

“I really hope the authorities take action and not wait until another life is lost,” she said.

Rahang assemblyman M.K. Arumugam, who visited the family yesterday evening, expressed regret over the incident.

“I have brought this matter up before but sadly no action was taken. I am very disappointed that something like this had to happen before the authorities took notice,” he said.

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