Japanese authorities are hunting a rogue monkey which is believed to have injured up to 18 people, primarily children and elderly citizens, amid a spree of violent attacks spanning almost a fortnight.

The first Japanese macaque attack came on July 8 when the primate climbed into a flat in Yamaguchi city's Ogori district and tried to drag a baby out of the window, inflicting several wounds.

The baby's mother said she was alerted by her child's screams and shooed the monkey away, before calling on authorities to catch the animal 'as soon as possible'.

'It had grabbed her by the legs while she was playing on the floor. It looked like it was trying to drag her outside,' she told local news outlets.

Reports suggest the monkey went onto attack another five people in the same district before entering a primary school on July 11, where it scratched one pupil, and then attacked a four-year-old girl three days later in a nearby nursery.

Police are now on high alert and are working with wildlife authorities to set traps for the animal.

Yamauchi city residents have been warned not to leave their windows open and to report any monkey sightings to authorities - but the frenzied primate is still on the loose.

Other victims of the macaque include several elderly people who were attacked outside their homes as they hung out washing.

There are hundreds of thousands of Japanese macaques living in the wild across Japan.

But their presence in urban centres has increased in recent years as their interactions with humans have reduced their natural aversion to large groups of people.

The animals typically weigh around 20-25lbs and are only around 50-60cm tall, but they are considerably stronger than a human of the same size.

Monkeys are by no means the worst of the myriad wild animals that have begun making their way into Japanese cities, though.

The reduction of wilderness areas and declining access to food has forced many species to wander into urban centres in search of sustenance, often crossing paths with unsuspecting residents.

Bears and wild boars are among the most notorious offenders, with the number of sightings and attacks of both having increased considerably in recent years.

In the northernmost main island of Hokkaido alone, the number of bear sightings skyrocketed from 381 in 2020 - when a black bear terrorised a shopping mall before being shot by a hunter - to a staggering 2,197 last year.

And wild boars ran amok in a park in Hiroshima last year, inflicting injuries on six people before they too were shot.

The monkey's rampage through the streets of Yamauchi city comes as an Indian macaque killed a baby boy by throwing him off a roof in a village in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India.

The horrifying incident took place in the rural village of Dunka, close to the city of Bareilly, where Nirdesh Upadhyay was standing on the terrace of his three-story house with his wife and their baby son.

The trio were enjoying a lazy Friday evening up on the terrace when a troop of the primates clambered onto the roof and surrounded them.

After futile efforts to bat the monkeys away, the new parents ran towards the stairs in an attempt to escape but Nirdesh, who was carrying his son, stumbled and dropped the child.

In a split second before either parent could react, one of the monkeys grabbed the baby boy by the hand and hurled him off the roof.

Distraught, the parents managed to get back inside the house and tore downstairs to their son's aid, but the infant reportedly died at the scene.

The incident is now under investigation with authorities at the Shahi police station, and Bareilly city's conservation chief, Lalit Verma, told PTI News his team were dispatched to investigate the involvement of monkeys in the child's death.

Uttar Pradesh is home to a huge population of rhesus monkeys, which roam free throughout many of the state's towns and cities.

Although the primates are generally able to live in relative harmony alongside the humans who reside in these settlements, there are a number of documented cases of the monkeys attacking people, in particular children. (CNN)

Update news