30 monkeys cause chaos in Punggol on 2nd day of CNY, break into residents’ homes & steal food

30 monkeys wreak havoc in Punggol on 2nd day of CNY

On the second day of the Chinese New Year (CNY), at least 30 monkeys appeared in the Punggol East HDB area searching for food. 

They broke into residents’ homes, leaving monkey footprints all over the floor. They reportedly scoured the kitchens to snack on Mandarin oranges, eggs, and honey.

Monkeys would fight for territory with residents

Several residents living at Waterway Sunrise in Punggol East told Shin Min Daily News that two years ago, there were monkeys “fighting for territory” with residents. The incidents of monkey fights stopped for more than a year, but now it seems they are back.

Besides foraging for food in the HDB estate, bolder monkeys would also climb along balconies and enter lower-floor units to steal food.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao

When the SMDN reporter visited on the evening of Friday (31 Jan), 55-year-old accountant Ms Huang, who lives in Block 657B, said that the group of monkeys began to gather at 12 noon on Thursday (30 Jan), the second day of CNY. They reportedly stayed until 4pm.

During this duration, they wandered around the underground car park and overturned a trash can.

Monkeys forage residents’ kitchens

Miss Chen, a 52-year-old housewife who lives on the second floor of Blk 657A, told the reporter that her family went out for CNY visitations on the day of the incident.

When she returned home at 6pm, she saw lots of garbage and orange peels scattered on the ground when she arrived downstairs at her block.

She also heard from neighbours that monkeys had broken into homes and stolen Mandarin oranges. She never expected that her home would be one of the homes that the monkeys had broken into.

She was dumbfounded when she entered her house and found the kitchen in a mess.

Miss Chen said: “I speculate that they may have climbed the tree outside the balcony, opened the half-closed blinds, and broken into the house.”

Took 2 hours to clean house

She pointed out that the kitchen island and the sofa in the living room were all covered with monkey footprints. There were orange peels and broken eggs everywhere on the floor.

The food in the cupboards had also been messed up, including the honey jar, which had been knocked over and licked clean.

She said: “It took our family more than two hours to clean up, and we had to throw away all the food that had been touched by the monkeys.”

“A fishy smell filled the house at that time. I wiped the floor with disinfectant three times, but I still feel a little uneasy,” she added.

Miss Chen said she used to take a detour when she saw monkeys, and now avoids them at all costs.

Also read: Monkeys Climb Down Jalan Besar HDB Walls Like They’re In ‘Mission: Impossible’, Munch On Residents’ Fruits

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Featured image adapted from Lianhe Zaobao and Singapore Random on Facebook for illustration purposes.