Bali primate researcher warns against taking stolen belongings back from macaques

Trying to recover a phone or glasses from a macaque can cause injury, Udayana University primate researcher I Nengah Wandia warned. RIA Novosti published his comments on October 10 after a monkey attacked a schoolboy in Bali.

Wandia described the attempt to retrieve a grabbed possession as a particularly dangerous moment, when a person may fight for an object while forgetting the animal is wild. He advised against trying to take a phone or glasses back by force.

Another risk arises when visitors attract macaques with food for a selfie and then try to drive them away. He said this creates close contact with a wild animal that can become dangerous.

Macaques can be encountered near temples, car parks and cafes as well as in forests. Wandia urged visitors to consider conditions at each location rather than treating one incident as evidence of a new danger across the entire island.

His comments followed an attack on a nine-year-old schoolboy in Wanagiri village in northern Bali’s Buleleng area. The child was heading to a toilet and suffered wounds to his arm and lower back. Doctors applied two stitches and administered preventive rabies vaccination.

BKSDA Bali said about 35 long-tailed macaques were present near the school. Its head, Ratna Hendratmoko, reported recurring human-animal conflicts in Wanagiri from 2023 to 2026.

The agency announced plans to manage the population in line with the capacity of its natural habitat. That is a stated intention rather than a report of completed measures.