Ammon News - Hundreds of long-tailed monkeys have gorged themselves on 'rotting flesh fruit' in the return of a delightful animal buffet.

The popular event had to be stopped last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Large crowds of tourists and residents gathered to watch the macaques feast at the site of the Monkey Festival at Lopburi in central Thailand this weekend.


The cheeky animals filled themselves with two tonnes of fruit and vegetables left by grateful locals and were seen climbing over people in attendance.

According to CNN, it costs over 100,000 Thai baht (£2,227) to put on the occasion for Lopburi's tree-climbing inhabitants.

But humans living in the so-called 'Monkey Province' have said they wouldn't have it any other way, as it shows the animals their gratitude for bringing foreign tourists and their wealth to the area.

While the monkeys are served up a dish mostly consisting of bananas and pineapples, organisers have also catered for those with more expensive tastes — such as the stinking durian fruit, which has had its smell compared raw sewage, rotting flesh, and smelly gym socks.

Yongyuth Kitwatananusont, who put on over 30 of the monkey festivals, said: "Today's special is durian, which is expensive. Lopburi monkeys like expensive things"

The theme for 2021's festival was 'wheelchair monkeys'.

In the days leading up to the ceremony, Yongyuth revealed plans to donate 100 wheelchairs to disabled.

Thailand has seen more than 100,000 overseas tourists arrive in November after the government launched a quarantine-free scheme for vaccinated tourists.

And the monkey madness has proven to be a huge draw.

Moroccan tourist Ayoub Boukhari told CNN: "I'm really happy to get to see this and now I'm thinking about going to the next festival."

"It's quite unexpected and the monkeys are quite silly."

The return of the tradition has also pleased locals like local Thanida Phudjeeb, who said they were "happy" that they were able to feed the monkeys for the first time in two years.

Last month, a starving monkey quickly got his own back on a tourist who pretended to punch him for trying to grab food from his backpack.

The tourist was visiting a national park at Mount Emei, a sacred Buddhist mountain 10,167ft above sea level in Sichuan, southwest China.

In recent news back home, two pigs caused chaos at a golf course after running wild.

The chunky duo injured two people in the mayhem by digging up the green and putting the director of the club in hospital.

Lightcliffe Golf Club, based in Yorkshire, had to shut down the course after the porky vandals appeared and started "pushing golf trolleys and bags over".

It's a mystery where the hogs came from, and when one golfer attempted to shoo them away they were cut in an attack and had to go to A&E for a shot.

*dailystar