5-month-old baby girl, Aisyah Nur Zara Mohd Azmi has gone through a traumatizing incident after being attacked by a wild monkey.
The incident took place last Sunday, 20 December, around 11am at their home in Taman Nusa Damai, Johor.
According to Harian Metro, the mother of the 5-month-old baby, Siti Nur Asikin Sulaiman, 42, said her daughter had suffered injuries on her back due to the attack.
“Zara was crying and I had to put her to sleep on her knees so that she would not feel the pain as much,” she said.
According to her, at that time she was in the kitchen preparing some milk for her baby as she had just woken up from her sleep.
“I put her on the bed in the master bedroom heading for the kitchen and at that time, my other two sons, a 15-year-old and eight-year-old were also at home,” she said.
“My third child at the time was in the main room watching television before Zara suddenly screamed and cried,” she added on.
She explained that she rushed into the room to get her baby but was shocked to see a wild monkey sitting on her baby’s back and scratching her.
“When I tried to chase it away, by using a broomstick, the monkey seemed to pull my baby’s hand and wanted to take her away,” she said.
Siti Nur Asikin explained that at the time, the only thing on her mind was rescuing her baby. A neighbour from next door helped drive the animal away.
She explained that immediately after that, she tried to calm down and support her baby by carrying her. That’s when she noticed that her baby’s clothes were torn and there were traces of blood.
“During the incident, my husband was at work and was out of the area, so I drove to Sultan Ismail Hospital, Johor Bahru for treatment,” she said.
“My neighbour lodged a complaint online on the website of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) on the same day,” she added on.
“The incident that happened to my baby was the first time. However, the presence of wild monkeys in this residential area is not the first time,” she said.
The doctor informed that Zara had to be admitted for 14 days since last Sunday due to the injuries on her neck and body.
She explained that the animal’s nails had germs while the baby’s antibodies were not strong enough causing the doctor to give her a dose of rabies vaccine to treat her.
“I was heartbroken to see Zara’s inability to lie down, so I let her sleep on my body with her chest laying on me,” she said.
She also added on to say that since last October, many residents have complained about a group of monkeys in their home area. Some of these wild monkeys ransacked the bins to look for food. There was also an incident where they ate one of the resident’s pet rabbit.
“Authorities have been present three times a day since the incident to carry out monitoring, including installing traps. However, no monkey arrests have been made. The group of wild animals live around a bush area about 300 meters from the residents’ houses,” she said.
Meanwhile, Johor Wildlife Director, Salman Saaban when contacted confirmed receiving a complaint regarding the incident.
“We have been monitoring and taking immediate action as soon as we received information related to this matter,” he said.
“According to the preliminary investigation, there were three monkeys suspected to be involved and roaming the area. One of them has been caught. The department will continue to set traps in the area and hunt for the monkeys to be disposed of because it has posed a security threat to the public,” he said.
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