Baby-Snatching Monkeys Are On The Loose In Japan

Baby-snatching monkeys are on the loose in Japan, and specially trained operatives have been brought in to hunt them down with tranquilizer guns.

Nope, that isn't the plot to the next Planet Of The Apes installment - it's happening in real life.

According to the AP, nearly 60 people in Yamaguchi have been attacked since July 8 by the deranged monkeys, which have broken into nursey schools and mainly attacked small children and the elderly.

The animals aren't interested in food, either, so trapping them has proven difficult.

City officials have said the monkeys, which are Japanese macaque, tend to sneak up on people from behind.

Japanese macaques often visit hot springs in winter, here in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture. (Photo by: Hartmut Pohling/Japan Stock Photos/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

If confronted, officials say, avoid eye contact, make yourself look as big as possible, then back away as quietly as possible without making sudden moves.

Hunters did manage to capture one male monkey this week, which stood at 1.6-feet tall and weighed 15 pounds. It was later put to death.

A woman was attacked while hanging laundry, while another victim showed bandaged toes. Officials still don't know what is causing this behavior or where the troop of monkeys are coming from.

“I have never seen anything like this my entire life,” city official Masato Saito said earlier this week.