Aggressive pet monkey won’t stop attacking neighbors in small Tennessee town, cops say

Deputies responded to an unusual call last week regarding a problem that’s become too familiar to residents of one small town Tennessee neighborhood: monkey attacks.

According to a Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office report, deputies arrived at the Church Hill neighborhood and spoke with a woman who said her neighbor’s pet monkey had jumped on her and tried to bite her in the driveway, WCYB reported.

The monkey jumped onto her car during the attack, and a deputy noted handprints that “seemed consistent with a monkey,” according to WBIR.

Speaking to other residents, deputies soon learned this wasn’t the first time the primate had done something like this, WJHL reported.

A neighbor across the street said she was recently forced to fend the monkey off with a stick, according to WJHL. It snatched the makeshift weapon away from her, leapt onto her car and bolted back to its owner’s house, where the victim told police she could hear them scolding the animal.

Residents told police “this has been an ongoing issue for quite some time,” WBIR reported.

The sheriff’s office said it is working with Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency to see if charges could be filed for a monkey running at large, according to the station.

Tennessee has some of the most lax laws in the country when it comes to owning a pet monkey, according to Business Insider, and is one of a dozen of states that generally doesn’t require a permit.

In 2011, a pet macaque, also known as a snow monkey, got loose in Tennessee, bit into a woman’s leg, and attacked several police officers before they shot it to death, Reuters reported.

This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 3:29 PM.